In Neary's debut Edinburgh solo show in 2004, she appeared as multiple characters, including Mr Timkins (a sly cat mourning the recent loss of his "dingle"), a bespectacled dolphin commenting on news stories from a soggy newspaper, and her own mother and grandmother. She told
The Scotsman, "The animals all started off with a dolphin which was an inflatable toy that I found in a bargain bin in a charity shop for a pound. It was my size so I slit it down the back, made a hole for my face and climbed inside it. Then I walked around my flat doing a silly voice and imagining what a dolphin would talk like." According to the review in
The Scotsman, "(her)
Pan's People pastiche of
"I Can't Live if Living Is Without You" is worth the price of the ticket alone as she rhythmically mimes her way through every method of suicide available." The show was nominated for the Perrier Newcomer Award and won the Comedy Report Best Character Actress Award. For her 2005 Edinburgh show, Neary was directed by
David Sant of Peepolykus. She created a cast of new characters, including Les Miserables, the Aussie comic, Lee, an 11-year-old deer, who is looking forward to starting rutting even though he doesn't know quite what it entails, and Fiona, the gap-year student who likes bongos but is worried about
global dimming. Neary returned to Edinburgh in 2007 with her third solo show. Alongside the familiar characters, such as
Celia Johnson, she created Chris, a
swinger from
Portslade,
Björk singing a song about the property market, and Carol Streep, a nervous woman giving a talk on sex aids. The show was framed with readings from Neary's own teenage diaries, with stories of "life in Eighties Cornwall with a loose tooth and
Lady Di haircut and the many boys that steadfastly ignored her." Stephanie Merritt reviewed the show in
The Observer: "For character comedy that is glorious fun with no underlying point whatsoever, Joanna Neary's Little Moments (Pleasance) would be hard to better. Neary is a fiercely gifted actor and her short monologues are peppered with clever songs and silly dances. The real joy here is the character based on Celia Johnson in Brief Encounter, a pitch-perfect impersonation taken to its logical conclusion. This is a show that leaves you with a huge smile and a renewed sense of delight in daftness.' Neary's fourth Edinburgh show, in 2008, was reviewed by Brian Donaldson in
The List: 'Whether Neary... is being a cat or a dolphin, impersonating celebrity chefs or transforming herself into bonkers old Björk singing about the credit crunch, each scene is infused with intricate details, layered by pinpoint writing and heightened with a highly polished performance.' New characters included the celebrity chefs
Heston Blumenthal and
Delia Smith. In one new sketch, written by Joseph Nixon, she appeared as a Katharine Hepburn type American actress, who says "My only regret is turning down
Gone with the Wind... and sleeping with Hitler." The show ended with another Pan's People dance, this time to the
Charles Aznavour song "
She". For her 2011 show,
Youth Club, Neary drew again on her teenage years in 1980s Cornwall, and created a completely new set of characters. These were described by Colin Bramwell in
Exeunt: "There are many memorable characters on offer here: Mr. Eddy, the youth club leader who annunciates each word with a new dance move; Eva, the madrigal-adapting new-girl from exotic Birmingham; Diana, the centrepiece of the story, who enjoys singing rude songs on the toilet and making things out of Weetabix boxes, and who fancies Gary, who knows the word for kite in Swahili... To effortlessly switch between a whole ensemble of characters takes considerable skill, and Neary pulls it off with no small amount of aplomb. Her talent for physical comedy is also impressive. The simulation of a young girl attempting an impromptu dance to a destroyed tape of the latest pop hit is both sympathetic and hilarious." ==
Celia==