Pentabus have hosted a Writer in Residence since 2014, when Simon Longman took up the post, followed by Joe White, Tim Foley, Sophie Ellerby and Tom Powell.
In an unprecedented hat-trick, we were recipients of three consecutive Channel 4 Bursaries from 2014-16, which enabled us to host three talented playwrights, all in the early stages of their careers - Simon, Joe and Tim. Since 2018, when Sophie took up the post, the Clive Richards Foundation has provided the bursary for our Writer in Residence for 4 years. Now we are delighted that the Jerwood Foundation is providing the bursary for our 2024/25 Writer in Residence.
Previous Writers in Residence have gone on to be commissioned by the Royal Court Theatre, Birmingham Rep, Royal Welsh College, The Bush, HighTide, Royal Exchange Theatre, and Nottingham Playhouse.
We undertake an open call for applications in early summer each year, more information about the application process will be posted on the script submission page nearer the time, if you'd like to be kept in the loop, join our e-list or follow us on social media.
Our current Jerwood Writer in Residence is Liv Hennessy. Liv is originally from Hereford and wrote her first short play on the Pentabus Young Writers programme. Her first full length play, Vardy V Rooney: The Wagatha Christie Trial ran in the West End and was nominated for the Noël Coward Olivier Award. Liv has also worked as a story editor and producer on ITV’s Emmerdale.
Liv will spend 6 months of the year with Pentabus in south Shropshire to write a brand new, full-length play and co-facilitate our 2025 Young Writers programme.
Liv Hennessy - Jerwood Writer In Residence 2025
Liv Hennessy is an Olivier-award nominated writer from the West Midlands. Her play VARDY V ROONEY: THE WAGATHA CHRISTIE TRIAL enjoyed a West End run in Spring 2023, and was critics’ pick in The Sunday Times and Evening Standard. Liv’s first play COLOSTRUM (finalist in the Women’s Prize for Playwrighting) is currently being produced by Jessie Anand. In 2022/23, Liv was on the BBC TV Drama Pilot scheme, and has various screen projects in development (Tiger Aspect, Moonage/BBC, AMC). Prior to this, Liv was the Story Editor and Producer of ITV’s Emmerdale. She was a writer in the Royal Exchange Young Company, and a Pentabus Young Writer.
Henry Maddicott- Peggy Ramsay Foundation/Film 4 Awards Scheme Playwright 2023
Henry Maddicott was Writer In Residence in 2023, sponsored by the Film 4 and Peggy Ramsay bursary. Born in the West Midlands now operating in Margate, his work champions rural voices and small-town stories.
An award-winning poet, educator, and theatre maker, Madd is a former Kent Poetry Slam Champion. He performs across the UK and internationally, headlining slams, events and festivals.
This has led to him being commissioned by: The Marlowe Theatre (The Kit Heritage Project, A Poem For Canterbury), Canterbury Cathedral (Summer Storytelling), Half Moon Theatre (The Catastrophic Adventures Of Dollop And Crinkle), and Half A String Theatre Company (The Snowsmith).
His debut spoken word drama Land Of Lost Content premiered at Pleasance London 2022 to 4 and 5-star reviews. It then went on to a short run at Ludlow Fringe and a full run in the Pleasance Courtyard at Edinburgh Fringe 2022. The show won Theatre Weekly’s award for Best Ensemble Cast, made it into The Stage’s Top 10 Theatre Shows of The Fringe, and was included in The Guardian’s round up of favourite shows of the year.
Alongside his writing, Henry delivers successful community art projects that encourage connection with poetry, theatre and our sense of home. Previous collaborations include working with organisations such as the Public Library of San Diego, The Marlowe, and The Phiharmonia Orchestra. He was previously a member of Create: Arts’ Nurturing Talent Programme leading workshops with young carers and continues to run writing and performance-based workshops.
Laura Waldren - Clive Richards Foundation WIR 2023
Laura Waldren was Clive Richards Foundation Writer in Residence for Pentabus in 2023. She was born and bred in Hull, East Yorkshire. She trained as an actor at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and discovered a passion for writing a couple of years after graduating. Her first full-length play ‘Some Demon’ — about cycles of institutionalisation in adult eating disorder units — was developed by 45North and shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Playwriting in 2021. Last year she also released her first screen work, ’This Is Hell’, an award-winning comedy drama web series about two best mates dealing with the aftermath of a shock bereavement. Laura co-wrote, co-edited, creatively produced and starred in the show, which won Best British Series at the Pilot Light TV Awards, Best Web Series at Changing Face Festival Sydney and London Web & Short Film Fest, and was officially selected for the BAFTA and BIFA-qualifying Bolton International Film Festival, among many others. As an actor, she most recently appeared in the second season of Lucy Prebble & Billie Piper’s critically acclaimed series ‘I Hate Suzie’.
Florence Espeut-Nickless - CRF Writer in Residence 2021/22
Florence is a writer and actor from Chippenham in Wiltshire. She trained at Guildford School of Acting and Arts Ed.
Her debut play DESTINY will tour this summer. It is a recipient of the Pleasance’s Edinburgh National Partnerships award (in partnership with Bristol Old Vic Ferment) and was shortlisted for Theatre’s West, Write on Women award. It has been developed with support from Bristol Old Vic Ferment, Tobacco Factory Theatres, Pound Arts, Wiltshire Creative, Strike a Light, Natural Theatre, Paper Arts and Theatre Bristol.
She is an Open Session writer at the Bristol Old Vic and an associate artist of Strike a Light as part of their ‘Let Artists Be Artists’ programme. Her second play Blinded by Your Grace is being commissioned / developed with support from MAYK, Strike a Light, Wiltshire Creative and Wild Child. She is currently developing a TV pilot, South West Side with support and mentoring from arts charity Wild Child and Oliver Lansley.
She’s developed her writing skills on programmes with the National Theatre, Papatango and Wild Child. Mentored by Tim Crouch, Suhayla El Bushra, Oliver Lansley and George Turvey.
She got into theatre after being excluded from secondary school and it became a much needed creative outlet, this experience inspired her to write with / about rural working class communities in the hope to make the arts more accessible to everyone, regardless of background and geographical location.
Tom Powell - CSRC Writer in Residence 2020
Tom Powell won a 2021 Papatango Prize for his play The Silence and the Noise, which toured the UK in partnership with English Touring Theatre in 2021/22. He adapted the play for film in 2022, produced by Pentabus and Rural Media, and it will be released in 2023. His play Surfacing opens at the Vault Festival on February 14th 2023, is published by Methuen, and is an Evening Standard Pick of the Festival, and a JAM Top 5 Show at Vaults.
Tom was the 2020 -21 CRF Writer in Residence at Pentabus Theatre and was chosen for the BBC Studios Writers’ Academy 2019/20. He’s written for Holby City and EastEnders.
His other writing includes I Dare You (Nottingham Playhouse/Curve - shortlisted for the Soho Young Writers’ Award) and Little Echoes (Hope Theatre - published by Methuen/Bloomsbury). He previously won the OTR National Radio Drama Award and the Harry Porter Prize.
He was selected for the BBC Words First spoken word programme, is an Arts Council England/BBC New Creative and his short audio drama Love Beyond the Zoo was broadcast on BBC Radio 4Xtra and is available on BBC Sounds..
Sophie Ellerby - CSRC Writer in Residence 2018/19
Sophie began her career as an actor, joining the Nottingham Television Workshop at the age of thirteen and starring in Shane Meadows’ film This Is England. She studied Drama at University of Manchester, specialising in cinematic score and Theatre in Prison. In 2016 she was awarded a place on Hightide’s First Commission scheme where she wrote her debut play LIT; a story that follows Bex’s turbulent teenage years as she questions what love means when you’ve grown up in Care. LIT, directed by Stef O’Driscoll, was co produced by Nottingham Playhouse and HighTide in 2019 to a sell out run and a four star Guardian review. Other work includes; Three (dir Anna Niland, Arcola theatre 2017), and Function (dir Lynette Linton, Criterion theatre 2018). She is currently under commission by Wild Works and Fifth Word. Sophie is also developing work for screen, including her first short The Walk inspired by her time spent at Pentabus about the challenges rural communities face attempting to sign on each week when their local bus route has been cut. Sophie is dedicated to projects that challenge social norms and ignite community imagination. Her plays aim to tackle provocative societal questions in an accessible and human way.
Tim Foley - Channel 4 Writer in Residence 2016
Tim Foley is an award-winning writer based in Manchester. He was Pentabus’ Channel 4 Writer-in-Residence in 2016, when he wrote his Bruntwood-winning play Electric Rosary (produced by the Royal Exchange June/July 2020). His debut play The Dogs of War won the OffWestEnd award for Most Promising New Playwright, and he has worked with Manchester Royal Exchange, Paines Plough, VAULT festival, and the National Theatre. He also writes sci-fi audio drama for Big Finish productions set in the world of Doctor Who.
Joe White - Channel 4 Writer in Residence 2015
Joe won the Channel 4 Playwriting Bursary Award in 2015 and was Pentabus' Writer in Residence in 2015. He is an award-winning writer from Birmingham, who has developed work with The Old Vic, Lyric Hammersmith, Bush, Hampstead, Birmingham REP and BBC Radio 3. In 2014, he was selected for the BBC Writersroom 10. In 2017, he was selected for the Orange Tree Writers Collective and The Old Vic 12. His debut play Mayfly premiered at the Orange Tree Theatre in Spring 2018, and led to nominations for Best New Writer at the Stage Debut Awards and Most Promising New Playwright at the OffWestEnd Awards, which he won. Mayfly is published by Nick Hern Books. In 2019, Joe was selected for the BBC TV Drama Writers Programme, through which he is developing a pilot with STV. In 2020 he is under commission with Sheffield Crucible, Audible and Carnival Films.
Simon Longman - Channel 4 Writer in Residence 2014
Simon won the Channel 4 Playwright Bursary Award in 2014 to spend a year as Pentabus' first Writer in Residence. In 2015 Pentabus produced Simon's play, Milked, which went on to tour again in 2016. He is a writer from the West Midlands whose play Gundog premiered at the Royal Court Theatre in 2018, directed by Vicky Featherstone, and for which he was awarded the 49th George Devine award for Most Promising Playwright. His play Island Town (a Paines Plough and Theatr Clwyd production as part of the Roundabout Season) has toured various venues, following a highly acclaimed run at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2018 and his play Rails, which was shortlisted for the 2015 Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting, received its world premiere at Theatre By The Lake in August 2018, directed by Clive Judd. In 2020, Simon is under commission to the Yard Theatre, the National Theatre and the Royal Court whilst developing his original TV ideas. Simon was a member of the Royal Court Young Writer's Group in 2013. His short film Oakwood premiered on BBC iPlayer in 2015 and was directed by Andrew Cumming.