Dom Juan tells the joyful descent into hell of a being who very closely resembles us all! A world-weary smooth talker, he’s “our  contemporary” — a paradoxical, endearing character who reminds us that Molière and the classic text still have much to say about today’s cosmopolitan, urban world, so obsessed with pleasure.  Joël Beddows is a stage director and artistic director of the Théâtre français de Toronto (TFT). This lecture is a prelude to the TFT’s presentation of the play Dom Juan from May 10 to 28, 2017. Following the lecture, at 7:30 p.m., Mozart’s opera Don Giovanni, the 1979 film by Joseph Losey, will be shown (185 min.). Partners: Théâtre français de Toronto and the Istituto Italiano di Cultura.