She wrote and directed a trilogy: Venus and the Fly Trap, Cock and Bull Stories and Kill the Fatted Calf all produced in Nottingham 1981- 2.
[2] By 1987 she was working for socio-political company Banner Theatre touring the UK's Trade Union clubs, factory floors and picket lines.
[2] The majority of McNamara's work is created to ensure access for Deaf and disabled people is aesthetically integrated within the performance.
[2][7] [8] Pig's Sister, also written and performed by McNamara and directed by Jessica Higgs, was created in association with Theatre Workshop Scotland, launched at The Poor School in London before transferring to Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2005.
Originally directed by Karena Johnson, it was re-directed by Paulette Randall and toured extensively throughout UK, closing at the Grand Opera House, Belfast.
The production was featured on Ulster television UTV, BBC Radio 4 and attracted a Writer's Award through DaDaFest and ITV.
[2] McNamara gained the South Bank Show Award for diversity (2010) [3][12][13] The Knitting Circle (2010 - 2013) Directed first by Antoinette Lester [14] and then by Paulette Randall.
The idea for the production was inspired by an old recording made 30 years ago, when McNamara was working as a nursing assistant in a long-stay hospital in the Hertfordshire.
Between 2014 and 2015 the play toured UK, Scotland, Northern Ireland and NE Brazil, closing on 20 June 2015 at Downpatrick, NI.
[23] The Disappearance of Dorothy Lawrence written by McNamara and directed by Paulette Randall opened on 11 September 2015 at Arena Theatre, Wolverhampton.
Her extraordinary story highlights the silencing of women's voices throughout history and the connection with the mental health system as a tool of censorship and repression.
Paulette Randall directs the play which involves a cast of four and includes integrated subtitling, British Sign Language interpretation and Audio description.
[34] Recordings of McNamara's singing kept at the British Library: The lords and ladies of Little Egypt 1988 and "I was born in A MerseyTown"(first line) as part of the Traditional Music in England project, John Howson collection, 1992.