Florence Espeut-Nickless

Florence is an award-winning writer and actor from Chippenham in Wiltshire. She writes for both stage and screen about and with working class communities in the hope of making the arts more accessible to everyone, regardless of background and location.

Florence is one of the winners of the Peggy Ramsay/Film4 playwriting bursary awards 2024 and is attached to the Bristol Old Vic. She was the CRF Writer in Residence at Pentabus Theatre, an Open Session Writer at Bristol Old Vic and an associate artist at Strike a Light, as part of the Let Artists Be Artists scheme.

Her debut play Destiny premiered at The Tobacco Factory Theatres, then ran at the Pleasance London and Edinburgh Fringe, followed by a UK tour and recent run in Denmark. It was nominated for an Off West End Award for Best Online Production and is published by Methuen Drama.

Florence was one of five writers commissioned by the National Theatre for a re-telling of The Odyssey in 2023. Her play Miracle on 34 Seymour Street was on at Trowbridge Town Hall in Christmas 2022. She is developing a new play, Blinded By Your Grace, with Bristol Old Vic, also supported by Strike A Light/GL4, Trowbridge Town Hall and MAYK. She’s under commission to National Theatre Connections and is developing a new show for young people with Restoke in Stoke on Trent.

Florence is currently developing a TV version of Destiny with support from Wild Child and Oliver Lansley, and she’s writing a pilot South West Side with support from Dancing Ledge and Julie Gearey via their mentoring programme. She was part of the BBC Voices Scheme 2023.