Isabelle Huppert: "Han Kang's writing remains powerful wherever it is performed"

Actress Lee Hyeyoung and the Korean Premiere of the Staged Reading "Bird"

A Staged Reading of Part 1 of Han Kang's Novel "We Do Not Part"

World Premiere at the Avignon Festival Last July

"Han Kang's writing is so powerful that it seems to retain its force and move audiences wherever it is performed."

French actress Isabelle Huppert, one of France's leading actresses, shared these thoughts after the Korean premiere of the staged reading of "Birds" at the Mary Hall Grand Theater at Sogang University in Mapo-gu, Seoul, on October 10.

"Birds" is a staged reading adapted from key passages in Part 1 of Han Kang's novel "We Do Not Part." Published in 2021, "We Do Not Part" is a novel about the tragedy of the Jeju April 3 Incident and its lasting scars. The novel consists of three parts, and Part 1 is titled "Birds."

"Birds" had its world premiere last July at the Festival d'Avignon, a world-renowned performing arts festival in France. The festival organizers selected Korean as the festival's official guest language this year and created the staged reading based on a work by Han Kang, the Nobel Prize in Literature laureate. Julie Deliquet directed the production. Last year, she directed a play of the same name based on "The Unwomanly Face of War" by Belarusian writer Svetlana Alexievich. Alexievich received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2015, and "The Unwomanly Face of War" is an oral history collection of testimonies from Soviet women who served in World War II. In several ways, it is connected to Han's "We Do Not Part." "Birds" was selected as an international invited work for the 2026 Seoul Performing Arts Festival (SPAF), marking its Korean premiere.

Actress Isabelle Huppert (left) and Lee Hye-young perform a reading of “Birds” at the Mary Hall Grand Theater at Sogang University on the 10th. Seoul Performing Arts Festival (SPAF)

The two main characters in Part 1 of "We Do Not Part," "Birds," are Inseon and Gyeongha. Gyeongha, a novelist, and Inseon, a photographer and documentary filmmaker, first met as colleagues while reporting together for a magazine and have remained friends for more than 20 years. "Birds" follows Gyeongha's journey to Jeju at Inseon's request. Jeju is Inseon's hometown, and she heard stories about the April 3 Incident from her mother. Inseon returned to her hometown to care for her mother and stayed on in Jeju after her mother died four years ago, working as a carpenter. One day, while doing carpentry, Inseon suffered an accident in which two of her fingers were severed and was admitted to a hospital in Seoul. She asks Gyeongha, who has come to visit her, to go and give water to Ama, the parrot left alone at her home in Jeju. Gyeongha heads to Inseon's house in Jeju through a heavy snowfall.

Deliquet said she wanted to focus on the friendship between the two protagonists, Inseon and Gyeongha. "Their friendship was forged through their work and their respect for each other. They are vulnerable, but they share their strength with one another and put it toward saving a dying bird."

When Gyeongha, after receiving Inseon's request, says she will go to Jeju the next morning, Inseon asks her to leave that very night, saying the parrot will not make it until the next day.

Deliquet saw the parrot as a symbol of human vulnerability. She explained, "The reason Inseon desperately clings to the hope of saving the parrot as its life fades, even though she herself is in a very weakened state, is that she keeps recalling the stories her mother told her about people who died in the past."

Both Deliquet and Huppert said they knew nothing about the Jeju April 3 Incident before working on "Birds," and stressed the importance of learning historical truths through art.

"I believe we can discover tragedies that history has failed to capture through literature and art," Deliquet said. "I believe literature and art connect us, the generations to come, with people of the past who disappeared without a name, and help continue the conversation between the living and the souls of the dead." She added that, while directing works by Alexievich and then Han Kang one after another, she had "thought a lot about the problem of communities being unable to speak about the terrible things they experienced, such as war, and having to remain silent even 10, 20 or 40 years later."

Huppert said the Jeju April 3 Incident is part of Korean history, but is also a universal history that everyone can relate to. "Many events experienced during World War II also went completely unrecognized until artists began bringing those stories back one by one and turning them into films and other works, allowing us to finally discover that history," she said. "The story in this novel may seem confined to one country, but I believe it holds truths that can resonate universally with many more people."

Choi Seokgyu, artistic director of the Seoul Performing Arts Festival (SPAF), actors Lee Hyeyoung and Isabelle Huppert, and director Julie Deliquet pose for a commemorative photo. Seoul Performing Arts Festival (SPAF)

Lee Hye-young, who plays Inseon, said Han's novel deals with a painful history but is beautiful. "I've seen many dramas and films about painful histories, but I found myself wondering if there had ever been a work as beautiful as Han Kang's novel," she said. "I became interested in Han Kang and started looking for her other books."

"Birds" had its world premiere last July in the Cour d'Honneur of the Palais des Papes at the 80th Festival d'Avignon. The Cour d'Honneur is the festival's signature outdoor venue and can seat about 2,000 people. By contrast, the Mary Hall Grand Theater at Sogang University, where the Korean premiere took place, has 428 seats.

Lee Hye-young said that while the Avignon performance was deeply moving, the Korean performance in an indoor venue had a different appeal. "At the outdoor performance in Avignon, various natural elements, including the wind, were part of the experience. But because the Korean premiere was indoors, we could focus more on the silence and on each other's words," she said. "We could focus more on the relationship between the two characters, creating a closer connection with the audience."

Toward the end of "Birds," a passage conveys specific historical facts, including the number of lives lost in the Jeju April 3 Incident. At the Festival d'Avignon last July, Han Kang made a surprise appearance and read this passage herself. At the Seoul performance, a 15-year-old student in the third year of middle school took the stage and read the same passage.

Deliquet explained that she wanted a member of a new generation, who needs to know this history, to read the passage. "Lee Hye-young told me that it took a very long time for the Jeju April 3 Incident to be included in textbooks, and that as a result, both her generation and the generation of her children learned about it only much later," she said. "I wanted younger students to read the final passage because I hope the new generation will learn about this history."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.