Staging a Play: Hemingway's "Hills Like White Elephants"

I. "The Girl," Jig

1. How would you describe her character? Consider her relationship to the American man: How long have they been together? Does she love him?

2. What physical actions does the girl perform?

3. Decide how the actor playing Jig should read her lines. What sort of tone should she use for her responses? How might it change during the scene?

II. "The American Man"

1. How would you describe his character? Consider his relationship to the girl, Jig. How long have they been together? Does he love her?

2. What physical actions does the man perform?

3. Decide how the actor playing the American man should read his lines. What sort of tone should he use for his responses? How might it change during the scene?

III. "The Woman"

1. How would you describe her character? Consider her relationship to the couple. How does she relate to them? What sort of service does she provide?

2. What physical actions does she perform?

3. Decide how the actor playing the woman should read her lines: what tone should she use?

IV. Set, Lighting

1. Decide what the set for this scene should look like. Draw a diagram of the stage set, including scenery like the table and chairs the couple sits on. Move the furniture in the classroom to approximate your ideas.

2. Where is the bead curtain? Where does the woman enter and exit from? Where is the station, towards which the man will exit (623)?

3. Where is "the bar" (618) in relation to the room with the bead curtain across the doorway (616)? Do you wish to include extras sitting in the bar, as the paragraph on 618 suggests, or keep the cast and action limited to the couple and the woman?

4. How do you want to translate the descriptive paragraphs for the stage? A program note? Minimal scenery, or perhaps lighting which suggests the landscape?

V. Props, Costumes, Make-up

1. Read through the story and make a list of all the props needed for the action. How full do you wish the stage to look? More bare, or more cluttered? Why?

2. How should the characters be dressed? The short story was written in 1927: do you want to use "period" dress, or contemporary clothes? Why?

3. Any special make-up? Do you want to accentuate the youth or age of any characters?