Pat Quigley was Director of Education for the Stratford Festival for thirty years and has been called out of retirement to cover a colleague who is away on maternity leave.

In this extract from our interview with her she describes what is distinctive about the festival, its classical approach to the texts (she cites Artistic Director’s Antoni Cimolino’s current production of The Beaux Stratagem as an example of this). She describes the festival’s approach to its educational work, the moving collegiality across the different education teams in North American festivals, and the deep connection which the Stratford Festival has with its town.

We were all of us bowled over by the breadth festival’s public educational work, its Forum, and it was great to listen to Pat explain how it all started and what makes it flourish as it does. But she also talks about the power of education to heal as well as to change.

There are three interviewers (in order of appearance): Paul Edmondson, Paul Prescott, and A.J. Leon.