A performer all his adult life, with short arms due to the drug thalidomide being taken by his mother while she was pregnant, Mat came upon pictures of Sealo the Sealboy, a freakshow performer with short arms who worked in the States from the 30’s to the early 70’s, but more than that, what Mat saw was his historical reflection…
In this one act, one man show at The Cornerhouse, Middlesbrough, Mat asks the question “Can a disabled performer ever be seen as anything other than a freak, irrespective of the ‘liberal’ or ‘post modern’ attitudes of today’s sophisticated audiences?”, and then he becomes his predecessor, Stanley Berent, a.k.a. Sealo the Sealboy, as the audience is forced to confront their collective connection with the freakshow audiences of the past.
Containing feats of strength, drum’n’bass, sexuality and class A drugs, SEALBOY : FREAK is a show that takes the spectator outside the comfort zone and into the teradome.
Written and performed by Mat Fraser, Directed by Ewan Marshall, Designed by Jo Paul, Lighting Design by Ian Bald.
Sealboy : Freak is intentionally provocative
Daily Express
Mat Fraser gets spookily under the skin
The Times
Subversive, witty, and intelligent
The Independent
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