Julie McNamara

Julie (Mack) McNamara is an award-winning theatre maker and documentary filmmaker, widely produced on national and international stages; ‘Pig Tales’2002-08; ‘Crossings’ 2009; ‘Let Me Stay’ 2013-15;‘Voices from The Knitting Circle’ 2013-18. Her work peels back the practised veneer of social masks, exposing unpalatable truths with a sense of utter mischief. Her life’s work has been staging creative activism, as a conduit for multiply marginalised voices from locked in spaces; the criminal justice and mental health systems.

She is a vociferous activist on global stages. In 2019 she gained a Miegunyah award as Distinguished Visiting Lecturer to Melbourne University, where she was honorary fellow, addressing the exclusion of Deaf and Disabled students, artists and activists inside the academy.

Artistic Director of London Disability Arts Forum from 1998 – 2006, she co-founded London Disability Film Festival with Caglar Kimyoncu (filmpro) screening the work of over 2,000 D/deaf and disabled filmmakers in partnership with BFI on Southbank. Co-Founder of Vital Xposure with Isobel Hawson (On Tour Ltd), she was Artistic Director from 2010 – 2020. Vital Xposure is a disability-led touring company driven by social justice. JulieMack’s work is a cry for change, challenging the utter corruption at the heart of successive governments and speaking truth to power.

Recent work includes developing and directing The Butch Monologues written by Libro Levi Bridgeman. The work began at WOW festival, Southbank in 2014 and toured nationally and internationally until 2021.

JulieMack is currently co-writing and directing Quiet Rebels with fellow activist and theatre-maker, Hassan Mahamdallie.