Freaks and not freaks: theatre and the making of crip identity

Conroy, Colette

Abstract

ON SOME LEVEL it seems obvious that some disabled actors will want to explore the history of freak show performances. To replicate a performance form that neither performer nor audience have experienced has the frisson of an historical re-enactment. Somewhere, people who looked like you were stared at as freaks by the audience. What would that have been like? For the freaks? For the spectator? This essay is an attempt to engage with the multiple possibilities of engagement and identity that are bound up in the idea of the freak shows, acting and spectatorship.

Citation

Conroy, C. (2012). Freaks and not freaks: theatre and the making of crip identity. Lambda Nordica, 17(1-2), 168 - 193

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Nov 1, 2012
• Publication Date: Nov 1, 2012
• Publicly Available Date: Aug 22, 2019
• Journal: Lambda Nordica
• Print ISSN: 1100-2573
• Electronic ISSN: 2001-7286
• Publisher: Uppsala universitet
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 17
• Issue: 1-2
• Pages: 168 - 193
• Keywords: Theatre; Disability; Queer
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/428908
• Publisher URL: https://www.lambdanordica.org/index.php/lambdanordica/article/view/336