IF! Inclusion Festival

What is it?

IF! is a festival of stories and events made By, For and With the people of Barrow of all ages, genders, race and abilities. Some of the stories will be performances, some may be recordings, but together those stories will give a sense of our town as it currently is, warts and all. It will be a love song to Barrow and who we are in all our glory.

Why is it?

Theatre Factory are story makers. In 2023-26 we received an uplift in funding from Arts Council England to enable us to do more work with people in our community. Barrow people always have a story to tell. IF! will stage some of those stories.

When is it?

November 2025 to September 2026

Where will it be?

Some of the venues have yet to be confirmed, but IF! will be performed throughout the town, beginning at The Town Hall in November 2025, with other performances confirmed at The Meeting Place and The Kill One.

What's on In 2025?

Sapeur and 25 Words at The Town Hall in November

What's on in 2026?

Follow the Money and Life Hacks at The Kill One in January

Unboxing at The Meeting Place in March

Runaway Blooms in March

QUIF in May

The Unseen Child in July

Barrow Youth Theatre in July

67 Thousand Barrovians Can't be Wrong in September

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How can I get involved?

email us rachel@theatrefactory.org

phone us 01229 430636

twitter us @theatrefactory

insta us #theatrefactorybarrow

or just pop in and see us face to face in The Cooke's Studios next to the Duke of Ed

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IF! Writers

IF! Writers is a writing group for all adults regardless of experience. If you would like to start writing but need a friendly, open group or you already write but would like to develop further with new challenges, then why not give us a try.

We always start with a warm up writing exercise to get us going and then work on ideas. Some are generated by the group and some are individual responses to themes.

The group is currently developing short scripts for IF!, our Inclusion Festival of Theatre in 2025/2026 . . . I know it's a long way off, but that means we have lots of time to think and to write! 

You are welcome to come along on the first Thursday of each month from 6 pm - 8 pm

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