Securing the time, space, and financial backing to write a full-length play remains one of the steepest hurdles for early-career playwrights. Opportunities offering secure professional development are thin on the ground. The Pentabus Jerwood Writer in Residence programme is an exception with a proven track record.
Said track record includes past residents Joe White, now a two-time Olivier-nominated writer, and Laura Waldren, whose debut play won the 2023 Papatango Prize. Applications for the 2027 residency are now open. You’ll find details at the end of this article.
Bursary and Residency Details
Supported for a third consecutive year by the Jerwood Foundation, the residency provides a £20,000 funding package. This includes a direct £12,000 bursary. The award allows the successful applicant to spend between six months and a year attached to Pentabus at their headquarters in Ludlow, South Shropshire.
The remaining £8,000 covers accommodation, travel, and the administrative costs of supporting the writer. The chosen playwright must write at least one new full-length play during their tenure. They will also observe the day-to-day operations of a professional touring company.
A Focus on Rural Theatre
Pentabus is the UK’s national rural touring theatre company. Based in Shropshire, the company produces new work specifically for isolated communities across the country. They also stage rural stories in major urban venues.
The company frequently produces high-calibre work that travels well beyond its rural base. Take former resident Tom Powell’s The Silence & The Noise. Staged digitally in 2024, the production offered a sharp, objective look at contemporary youth and made far better use of digital format than many of Pentabus’s more luxuriously financed urban contemporaries.
The 2027 recipient will be the twelfth writer to join the programme. Alumni have gone on to secure commissions from the National Theatre, the Almeida, and the Royal Court.
The Value of Professional Overlap
The incoming writer will work alongside the current resident, Rhys Warrington, for an initial overlap period. Warrington’s residency has already yielded clear professional results. His new play, MONUMENT, will premiere as a co-production between the Royal Court Theatre and Sherman Theatre in December 2026.
Warrington is direct about the benefits of the Shropshire placement.
‘Being this year’s Jerwood Writer in Residence at Pentabus is EVERYTHING I’d hoped it would be and more,’ Warrington said. ‘To have the space and time to dream up and write a brand new play, and to do that alongside such a wonderful, warm, generous team of people, is a genuine gift.’
The environment allows for substantial focus.
‘I’m already discovering things about the play I’m writing, and even more than that, about myself as a writer, that I simply wouldn’t have found otherwise,’ Warrington said. ‘And to top it all off, Ludlow is absolutely gorgeous. I implore everyone to apply!’
Long-Term Institutional Support
Sustaining this pipeline of new writing requires consistent financial commitment – no small thing in today’s tormented economy. The Jerwood Foundation has provided £60,000 over three years to secure the bursary scheme. Brava!
Lara Wardle, Jerwood Foundation Executive Director and Trustee, said: ‘Jerwood Foundation has renewed its partnership with Pentabus to enable a continuation of its leading Jerwood Writer in Residence programme which offers emerging playwrights’ valuable opportunities to develop their writing and reflects Jerwood Foundation’s ongoing commitment to supporting excellence and emerging talent in the arts.’
Pentabus Executive Director Verity Overs-Morrell said the residency remains core to the company’s identity.
‘The Writer in Residence is the beating heart of our company, so being able to continue the programme into 2027 with this support is truly wonderful,’ Overs-Morrell said. ‘It would not be possible without the extraordinary philanthropic vision and generosity of the Jerwood Foundation.’
Key Dates and Deadlines
For those interested, be aware that the application process follows a strict timeline ahead of the Spring 2027 start date:
- Application Deadline: Monday, 29 June 2026 at 10am.
- First-Round Interviews: Week commencing 30 November 2026.
- Second-Round Interviews: Week commencing 11 January 2027 (in-person at Pentabus).
Playwrights can find full details and submit their applications directly through the official portal at https://pentabus.co.uk/artists/jf-writer-residence-applications.
Featured Image: Pentabus Logo
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