MAT Fraser was feeling a little hoarse. He had just rehearsed the climactic battlefield scene in Richard III, as presented by Northern Broadsides and Hull Truck Theatre with drums and clogs.

"Richard talks a lot, and we did the scenes yesterday with lots of shouting," he said as he reflected on the demands of playing the king. "There are so many feelings attached to it. I feel wonderful about it.

"As a disabled actor, you don't often get offered the lead roles, the big prominent roles, but as a serious actor I feel ready to take on a role that's such a huge responsibility. Apart from Kathryn Hunter, who was in an all-female version at The Globe, I'm the first disabled person to play this part."

Mat, who began his acting career with GRAEAE Theatre Company, Europe’s leading company of disabled actors, has since worked extensively in theatres and on screen in Britain, Ireland, Australia, Canada and the United States.

He was born with thalidomide-induced Phocomelia, resulting in his short arms, and at 55 he finds himself playing Richard, the poisonous bunch-back'd toad", "thou lump of foul deformity". "Being 'disabled' does add an extra level to it; it makes it much more visceral for the audience," says Mat. "One of the possibilities it raises is that the audience might feel more sympathy when Richard is usually seen as out-and-out evil.

"But also theatre is changing for disabled actors; this is a role that's never been done before by a male disabled actor. I'm not saying that all theatre companies are as forward thinking as Northern Broadsides and Hull Truck, but theatres are changing and there's a responsibility on me not to muck it up. Whether I like it or not, playing Richard, I'm an ambassador for disabled actors. I'm enormously flattered and honoured. I'm feeling, not a burden, not a weight, but a responsibility, giving the audience a different Richard to be considered."

Mat is savouring the language in his second Shakespeare role. "All I've done before is Puck ten years ago, but I do love the language and it's something that I've talked about with my fellow disabled actors: what it would be like to play this role," he says.

"I had this pit of fear in my 6am stomach after I accepted the role but I was quickly over my nerves as I got down to learning the lines. I took a month to get into it, to learn them, to be off the book by the time I started rehearsals as a way to combat the difficulty of having to turn the pages."

He has taken those slurs fired at Richard's deformity in his stride. "This is Richard III, the famous play with the famous lines, that throws the line 'thou foul lump of deformity' at you. At some point, when I'm just amusing myself, I'm going to copy out all those barbed lines about his satanic relationship with his body," says Mat.

"This is a role of a lifetime, though I hope it's not the role of lifetime, but show me a better writer than Shakespeare, a better villain than Richard III. I always wanted to play a villain, but I always thought it would be in a low-budget movie!"

Instead, Mat Fraser is doing Richard III his way. "I'm a punk, not a New Romantic, Shakespearean villain," he says. "I'd much rather see Johnny Rotten playing Richard than Spandau Ballet's Tony Hadley."

Richard III will run at Hull Truck Theatre until May 27 before moving on to Northern Broadsides' home turf of Halifax for a Viaduct Theatre run from May 30 to June 4. In Hull, the 7.30pm evening shows will be complemented by 2pm matinees on May 20, 24 and 27. Hull tickets can be booked on 01482 323638 or at hulltruck.co.uk; Halifax, 01422 250250 or deanclough.com