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Julie McNamara first performed in public with punk
band The Plague. It was 1977 and the world was going mad.
In the same year she was voted Actress of the Year in a Merseyside
Drama Festival for her performance of the Second Comedian in A
Resounding Tinkle. She went on to work with The National Student
Theatre Company (NSTC) alongside John Godber and Stephen Jeffries
and was a regular at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
By 1987 she was working for Banner Theatre,
a socialist company focusing on topical political issues.She left
theatre to go it alone. She continues to write and perform her
own shows and teaches stagecraft and voicework internationally.
In 2002 she teamed up with Jessica Higgs, Director of In Tandem
Theatre Company.
Julie was commissioned in 2002 by Jackson's Lane
Theatre and Oval House
Theatre to create a piece for the Xposure
London Festival of Disability Arts. The play was a roaring
success and the highlight of the festival. Pig Tales earned
her a Theatre People award from London Arts.
Recent performances include: Pig
Tales at Jackson's Lane, Oval House Theatre in London,
Alverton Manor (Cornwall) and the Edinburgh Festival.
Keep a look out for the sequel - Pig's Sister.
Julie has also recently appeared in The Vagina Monologues
at The Cochrane Theatre, London. The Cellar Bar, Manchester Town
Hall and Womenspace, all at Europride Manchester, The Citadel
St. Helens and Women In Tune Festival, South Wales.
Appearances since December 2000 have included:
- The Feast Festival in Australia
- Auckland Festival in New Zealand
- Good Health in Wanganui
- Ao
Prao in Thailand
- Skyros Island in Greece
- London's Sadlers Wells
- The Spitz
- National
Film Theatre, South Bank
- The Astoria Theatre
- London Weekend Television
- Questors
Theatre Studio
- Theatre Workshop Edinburgh
- Holton Lee in Poole
- Ithaca Oxfordshire
- Libertas Festival
- The Barbican York
- aLAF
Festival Dublin
- Waughton Theatre, Milton Keynes
- and the infamous
Hemingford Arms in Islington.
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"Julie McNamara is an amazing artist, a fantastic
teller of tales and singer of songs. She took control as soon
as she stepped onstage in a stunning performance. Julie does
not just play characters on stage, she becomes them, delivering
stories and poems with a power and intimacy which is daunting.
Her greatest strengths are twofold, the first is the fact that
she is telling the truth and from experience lived or observed
and the second is her wonderful voice. A wonderful performance
from a talented and extraordinary lady."
MAGNUM ARTS review of a show at The Citadel, St. Helens
Described by Libby Purvis as 'Utterly reprehensible!'
(BBC Radio 4)
'The highlight of the evening came with
Julie McNamara, a brilliant performer...star of the night!'
(Sandra Barwick The Independent)
'She has that rare skill of capturing an
audience through the instant rapport she strikes up.'
(Sandra
Britton, Bristol Disability Arts)
'She takes her audience through extremes
of emotion, magnetises us with a mixture of songs and torrid tales
that reveal an outrageous sense of humour and a repertoire of
rapid gob fire.'
(Kath Gillespie Sells, Regard)'
One of the finest Lesbian artists on the circuit.'
(Richard Dean,
Riverside Studios)
'Julie McNamara is one of the most talented performers
I've seen for a long while. She has a tremendous range, power
and poise.'
(David Hill, West Midlands Arts)
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For details of Julie's award winning show: Pig
Tales touring nationally, click here
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