Melissa Nolan & Melanie Phillips - Writer Biographies
Melissa Nolan
Melissa Nolan is an Actor, Writer, Theatre-maker and Producer. Holds an MA in Performance Drama (UCD) and Diploma in Arts, Entertainment & Media Law (The Law Society of Ireland). Currently part of Screen Ireland/TU Dublin’s Postgraduate Diploma in Advanced Producing. She has produced theatre/arts festivals for the past 15 years, touring Ireland, Japan, Russia, Spain, UK and India. Co-founded Mouth on Fire and Speckintime theatre company’s
She produced A Touch of Klass (Mel Productions) nominated for Best Comedy, Underground Film Festival 2011; Mr Wall by Dee Roycroft (RTÉ Junior) 2018; Dáil100 (House of the Oireachtas/Speckintime) 2019; What I (Don’t) Know About Autism (Abbey Theatre/Jody O’Neill) 2020, 2021; Samuel Beckett’s The End (Mouth on Fire) 2021; Dublin 8 Witness to the Revolution (Gansee Films) 2021.
Writing credits include Home: Part One (Abbey Theatre), I Am Mrs Daisy Bates (Irish/Australian in-development), Finding Love in an Abattoir (Irish/Latvian in-development), ‘Beckett in Performance: The Body of a Beckettian Actor’ in Beckett's Voices/Voicing Beckett (Brill Publishing), A Touch of Klass (stand up/short film).
Melanie Phillips
Melanie Phillips is from the heart of Dublin city, the Liberties. She studied Performance Drama at Inchicore College (H.Dip Theatre) and holds a Dip in Speech and Drama from Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London.
She has performed in many theatrical productions and short films and has spent the past 15 years exploring her love of Irish and European history creating historic events, building tour guides and designing digital content for Castles, Museums and Attractions across the UK and Ireland. She is delighted to be collaborating with her best friend and writing partner Melissa Nolan.
Waking Ireland - Short Synopsis
Monica and Tanya are two cousins who, after 20 years of drifting apart, are reunited when Monica returns to Dublin for the funeral of their grandmother. Shocked by how terrible their grandmother looks in the coffin, using their combined skills they take charge and give her the send-off she deserves.
With a surprise offer of a partnership from the local funeral home, Tanya convinces Monica to stay in Dublin.
The two cousins set themselves up as Ireland’s premiere wake service, ‘with a difference!’ - offering everything a grieving family could possibly want, and some things they definitely don’t.
First series explores how the Irish deal with death and why it’s ingrained in us from an early age. From bizarre funeral practices and superstitions to using humour to cope with grief and celebrate the ones we’ve lost.
As death affects us all differently, Monica and Tanya must rise to the challenge of overcoming their personal fears within themselves. With the loss of what they thought their lives were meant to be, the launch of not only their new business together but their own awakening, they create a new chapter in their lives.