On the Vile Arts Radio Show Tonight: Ruxy Cantir

The Vile Arts is back on Subcity Radio and, thank God, he has guests. Drew Taylor is a familiar voice, so we'll get to him later. But check this out...

or listen here...

Actually, by my standards, this is a pretty great show... sure, I manage to mess up the music cues and do my usual boast about how I know Red Bastard. But both Drew and Ruxy are great guests, and cover for my rudeness, bad research and general silliness. 

Ruxy Cantir is a theatre artist born and

raised in Moldova (Eastern Europe). This provided her with a grotesque sense of humour, boney elbows, and a desire to celebrate the odd and the unusual. 

She creates original physical theatre in ensemble and by herself, and believes in the full physical gesture as the epitome of human expression. She is inspired by transformation, highly physical comedy, and embarrassing stories. She strives to create imaginative intensity-filled original work that explores the bizarre manifestations of our fears and desires. Most of her work falls somewhere between styles like Clown, Vaudeville, Physical Comedy, and Movement theatre.
Ruxy received her B.A. in Theatre Arts at Furman University (South Carolina, USA) and her M.F.A. in Ensemble Based Physical Theatre at Dell'Arte International School of Physical Theatre (California) where she came into her own as an “actor-creator,” a mover, and a community arts project lover. She also trained at LAMDA in their Summer Intensive and Physical Theatre Workshops, and David Diamond's Theatre for LivingWorkshop.

Ruxy moved to Glasgow, Scotland in November 2015.

Because this...

Vile Magic... (And Eric's Cafe...)

This is a public apology to the always wonderful Niall Morris. As head of Subcity Radio, he has introduced a smooth new logo, made the first foray across to Edinburgh (broadcasting On The Fringe) and add an extra forty minutes to the end of this episode of The Vile Arts Radio Hour.

This apology is followed by a second apology to Eric Karoulla. Eric's debut interview, with the lovely Peter McMaster, is repeatedly interrupted by Vile, who was supposed to be off looking after his next guest, Vanessa Coffey. Before Eric even got to start the interview, Vile had bumped it back later in the programme, so he could talk to Nicholas Bone, who is the director of Magnetic North's Sex and God.

Perhaps I could apologise to Mr Bone for getting the name of the show wrong at one point. And to Ms Coffey for not recognising her from the show I had seen her in a week ago, the Promethean Fire Into Song.

While I might wish to apologise to all listeners for my tone of voice and persistant lack of research, I am specifically apologising for the length of this episode. But it is worth a complete listening. There's some really creative swearing on the Azaelia Bank's tune, and the exclusive track from Lou Prendergast is a rare chance to hear some reggae on the hour.

If I had done some research, I might not have been so surprised at the amount of stuff my dear friend Jer Reid is up to this week. Another apology...

And sneaked away at the end is a chat with Johnny McKnight and Julie Brown. The full version of this interview will appear on our Soundcloud very soon (as soon as I find My Producer Harry). In the meantime, The Adventures of See-Thru Sam is touring Scotland.


Listen here!

Radio Top Five (Guests we have loved)

The Subcity on the Fringe radio show is going great guns: pop over to the website to hear our latest interviews and idiosyncratic musical choices (for some reason, That's Life has been our theme tune this week). Yet certain shows have managed to impress us in ten minutes of live chat.

Guilt and Shame provide the perfect end to a day at the Fringe: Up All Night pits a gay virgin and a heterosexual slut up against one last Big Night Out in a late night comedy show at the Underbelly. Their musical selections speak of their enthusiasm for the populist disco (Daft Punk had us leaping around the studio) and their flyering technique has been honed into a quick soft sale that might be for their show or their own love lives. It might be comedy, but Up All Night uses those techniques of serious theatre that I love so much: written from experience, Guilt and Shame are a bit like their real life personalities, with added frustration.

Underbelly, 2 -26 August



Countryboy's Struggle is part of a hip hop movement that has recently become far more mainstream: theatre. Maxwell Golden, writer and performer, has worked with the London legend Jonzi D, and tells the story of a rural rapper hitting the big smoke. He threw down some rhymes live in the studio - switching styles and flows, revealing how disappointment is easy to find and the drive towards art often hides a sadness and failure to adjust.

Golden has been rocking Countryboy round the nation for a while, giving the production a polish that removes it from being just for hip hop heads: his shout outs to the other hip hop shows prove that he is still of the scene, but not stuck there.

Pleasance, 3 -27 August

If you have children, don't take them to Auntie Myra's Funshow. When she arrived and insisted that her introductory music should be The Boss, we realised that here was an act not in the habit of taking prisoners. Having teased taxi drivers on her way into the studio, she went off to her late night slot to attack decency and try and finish a few jokes.

Myra Dubois has developed her passive aggressive routine over the past few Fringes: once part of Scottee's crew of cabaret reprobates, she's gone solo to find a new audience for her northern, scathing wit. There's frightening puppets, dark snarking and a collision between gruff Northern Club and hip London scene.

Voodoo Room, 3- 27 August

I had a couple of Summerhall based companies in the studio later in the week. Clout are showing How A Man Crumbled in the afternoons, which comes from the writings of a man who hated children, despite surviving by writing stories for them. The absurdism of Krem's life is matched by the physical stylings of Clout, who allow a bunch of buffoons to foul up the play's attempts to reveal some kind of truth.

Summerhall, 3- 26 August

And since I haven't mentioned them for five minutes, let's hear it for Zar. Caesarian Sections is happening in a specially built black tent: their artistic director spoke movingly of his interest in ancient sounds, the connection between music and the human self, the hidden tragedies of recent history, before recalling Camus' thoughts on suicide. This is the  foundation for Caesarian Sections, that the thought of suicide offers the limits of human freedom and that to take life seriously is, at least once, to consider suicide. Cheerful as this sounds, it is wrapped in exquisite singing and the silence is as composed as the voices.

Summerhall, 13- 20 August

It's Mayhem

I have seen a few shows, but I have had far more in the radio studio. In fact, I intend to spend the rest of the Fringe in the studio, making episodes of Subcity of the Fringe, only leaving to buy Chinese food and alcohol.

After the first day of recording, I am not sure I could pick out a mere top five - listen to the show and see who sounds friendly - but I had fun listening to Bob Slayer's outrageous life stories, was charmed by Clout Theatre (Lecoq gags ahoy) and was astonished by Christine Bovill's versions of Piaf's signature songs. However, I want to take a moment to remember a show that I saw before it came to the Fringe, and I know is lurking outside of the studio, somewhere in Summerhall.

Puppet. Book of Splendour is not something to slip into between comedy shows: stands ups might pretend to be soulful, but against the depth of feeling in Puppet, they'd ruin your appetite. Based around the Book of Job, with added caballa, it is a journey through the life of Polish theatre legend Kantor, with added angels in afro wigs and the darkest projections onto the darkest set. Astonishing, frightening and life affirming (as long as that live can accept a God beyond understanding), it's the kind of theatrical mayhem I adore.

Summerhall, 8 -13 August 2012

While I am on the mayhem tip, let's go for the Wau Waus. They have a new show - naked as they day they were born, apparently - and are in La Clique Royale. The Waus Waus once said that they chase the moment where everything is falling apart, when the act is on the edge of collapse: they have certainly smashed most of the boundaries that keep cabaret and performance art apart. Their erotic strategies are inspired by a punk ethos and a feminist intelligence, and they usually upset somebody by the end of the Fringe.

The Famous Spiegel Tent, 8- 26 August

Since I am now sitting in Dance Base, I reckon bANGER is worth a shout. It's Very Metal, a one woman take on the pleasures of being a young male, stuck in the bedroom and playing the games that always come along when the volume goes up to eleven. Warfare, rockin' out, a glance at the way a youth's mind can follow the beat into fantastic worlds. I am outside the studio as it is being performed right now, and it made my hair grow long when the tunes kicked in.

Dance Base, Various Times, 3 - 12

While I am on the Dance Base tip, I did chat to Alan Greig out of GOD (Grumpy Old Dancers) and Gary Clarke (A Beautiful Hell). It's a typical smart Dance Base double bill that does something original with pairing up distinctive masculine works. GOD works through the hilarious mismatch of the dancers (Greig does the camp, Andy Howett is the most macho man ever to front a Gaelic TV show about dance). Gary Clarke's choreography grows beauty from brutality and, after last years's solo, has pulled together a group of young dancers to flesh out his energetic, passionate vision of a life lived at full tilt.

Dance Base, Various Times, 3 - 12


So - there are my predictions for the most chaotic (but watchable shows), short of the car crashes and the big Polish action pieces in the Quad (I'll be getting to them soon). But, of course, the real mayhem is on the Royal Mile where I am doing my one man show Get Out of My Way, I Don't Want a Flyer. The bit where I punch a nun was described by the police as the most shocking moment you'll see all year: sadly, they didn't give me five stars but a five year suspended sentence.

Subcity on the Fringe, part 1

A brief downtime for the Vile Blog this week - two days of the Fringe, and not a word written. Apart from my role facilitating some coverage for the Skinny, I have been locked up in a studio, at the back of the charming Summerhall venue, making radio. The usual Vile nonsense has been mixed up and made cool by the presence of my co-hosts, Greg and Niall, and we can now reveal the results of our hard work.

Episode one is now rocking the airwaves, with a storming combination of the manic, yet sweet, Bob Slayer. Tune in to hear Bob take the Fringe to task, describe intimate acts that he has performed live on stage, reminisce about his days as a tour manager for the Bloodhound Gang and champion Phil Kay, master of the apparently neurotic comedy assault.

Faced with the challenge of following Bob, we invited the Balkan Elvis and Virginia Gay to perform live. Hear the birth of rock'n'roll filtered through an Eastern European childhood (via Australia), some mild flirting with Ms Gay (who reinvents, live in the studio, Disney kitsch as a call for LBGTQ marriage), and the desperate attempts of Vile to raise a smile.