The Company was formed in 1997 by the current Artistic Director, Rachel Ashton, to provide a place in Barrow-in-Furness for people, especially young people, to come and make original, new drama based on their own ideas, through improvising, playing, writing and generally messing around.  

Theatre Factory is based in the Cooke’s Arts and Media Centre next door to the Duke of Edinburgh Hotel, where we have a fully equipped theatre studio and room to act, improvise, make things, move around, puppet, bang drums, animate, perform and film

Thousands of Barrow people have been involved with us over the years, some for fun, some to learn and some for work. The company has a core team of 6, and every year we work with a wide range of Freelance Artists from all over the country. You can meet us on the Team page.

Theatre Factory runs all kinds of projects: theatre (indoors, outdoors and online), animation, writing, digital and sound. We make stories in collaboration with children, young people and the occasional adult. Their ideas, your ideas, are at the heart of everything we do.

Have a look at our Projects pages to get involved. We share those stories locally and regionally from our home in Barrow-in-Furness, so if you would like to see our work look in Events and come along.

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Our work starts in the Community, moves up through Youth Theatre and on into professional practice. A big part of our role is to nurture emerging local Artists. The Company has assisted a growing number of young people to enter the Creative Industries.

Have a look at the Apprentices, Community Influencers and Gen Z Artists to read more about how we do that.

We are interested in how the Performing and Associated Arts can help people and communities grow stronger. So we work closely with other organisations in Barrow whose work shares similar aims to ours. We add our skills to theirs to help our community to thrive. You can read about these partnerships in Theatre Factory Community.

In short, we work with people to build resilience and happiness for all. We hope that you enjoy the website and find it interesting. 

Our door is always open . . . well most of the time it is . . . so feel free to drop in and talk to us if you are passing by or contact us through this website here.

All the best

Rachel