Che dolore terribile è l'amore

One day, Gyeongha receives a message from her friend Inseon, who lives on Jeju Island, in South Korea: she has apparently injured herself chopping wood and had to be taken back to the mainland. But she had to leave behind a bird that risks starving to death. In her novel We Do Not Part, writer and Nobel Prize laureate Han Kang explores one of the darkest moments in Korean history: the bloody repression of the Jeju uprising in 1948. Daria Deflorian explores and questions this haunting text. The director shares with Han Kang a refusal to reduce tragedies to city names and the number of victims. To approach this past that refuses to pass, one must confront the fragility of humanity and the self-evidence of what affects us. Perhaps then “will we be admitted among the ghosts”.

다리아 데플로리안은 노벨 문학상 수상 작가 한강의 소설을 무대 위에 펼쳐낸다. 죽은 자와 산 자 사이, 꿈과 우정 사이에서 잊히고 부정된 학살의 기억이 스며든다.

INTERVIEW WITH daria deflorian

With Anna Coppola, Daria Deflorian, Monica Piseddu
Adaptation from Hang Kang's We Do Not Part
Dramaturgy and direction Daria Deflorian
Project shared with Monica Piseddu and Andrea Pizzalis
Co-dramaturgy Eric Vautrin
Set design and direction assistantship Andrea Pizzalis
Light Giulia Pastore
Sound Emanuele Pontecorvo
Costumes Ettore Lombardi
Direction technique Enrico Maso
Artistic advice Attilio Scarpellini
Contribution to the dramaturgy Nikolai Palmieri and Blu Silla
French translation and surtitles Federica Martucci
English translation and surtitles Prescott Studio Italy
Production Valentina Bertolino, Marta Dellabona
Communication Francesco Di Stefano

Production INDEX Production
Coproduction Emilia Romagna Teatro ERT / Teatro Nazionale (Bologna), Piccolo Teatro di Milano – Teatro d’Europa (Milan), Teatro di Roma – Teatro Nazionale (Rome), Festival d'Avignon, théâtre Garonne, scène européenne – Toulouse
Distribution in France théâtre Garonne, scène européenne – Toulouse
In collaboration with Istituto Culturale Coreano in Italia, L’arboreto – Teatro Dimora di Mondaino | Centro di Residenza Emilia-Romagna, Residenza Olinda/TeatroLaCucina (Milan)
Support MiC – Ministero della Cultura
Support for the 80th Festival d'Avignon Institut Culturel Italien à Marseille, Literature Translation Institute of Korea

Presented in partnership with France Médias Monde

Premiered at the théâtre Garonne, scène européenne – Toulouse on 6 and 7 July 2026.