What Have You Done Today to Win the War? Originally titled Que has hecho hoy para ganar la guerra?

On the stage, a woman dressed in black.

WOMAN Win the war, everyone's talking about it, you see it everywhere: "We have to win the war." The walls speak, the clouds spell it in the sky, people shout it in the streets, it's all over newspapers. Win the war. But how? Do you all know? The soldiers fight, the gunners load the cannons, the truckers drive their vehicles down the highways, the factories grunt, electricity does what it's supposed to do, and water, and steam, and fire. What have you done today to win the war? (Silence.) Go on, say it, tell me, don't be afraid, no reason to hide it if you've done a good thing. Or is it that you're all asleep right now? Or does shame glue your lips together and bite your tongue? You, little girl, where do you work?

GIRL What do you care?

WOMAN As Juana Herrero Martin, I don't care. As a Spaniard, I care a lot.

GIRL Gimme a break!

WOMAN It's true. The war belongs to all of us, and we all have to win it. Don't you suffer the consequences?

GIRL Like anyone else.

WOMAN So, you have to help us win.

GIRL Isn't it enough to work in the war industry?

WOMAN You should have said so before.

GIRL Do you want to know what size shoe my grandmother wears, too?

MAN SAYING OLÉ Olé!

GIRL Hey--make that olé guy get up there.

MAN SAYING OLÉ Who do you think you are?

VOICES Get him up there!

MAN SAYING OLÉ No way.

People push him and he jumps onto the stage.

I never did nothing to nobody.

WOMAN Who are you?

MAN SAYING OLÉ A lame shoeshiner, at your service.

WOMAN So where's your other arm?

MAN SAYING OLÉ (takes out prosthetic arm) I lost him at Brunete.

GIRL Olé!

MAN SAYING OLÉ Oh, I forgot: I'm a night guard at the Barcelona port.

He gets down.

At your service. And you? Yes, you--

He points to someone in the audience.

What have you done to win the war?

He stands by the GIRL.

SOMEONE I ain't done nothing wrong. I was just passing through.

VOICES Get him up there, make him talk.

They hoist him up on stage.

WOMAN Who are you?

SOMEONE Me?

WOMAN You? Yes, you, who else?

SOMEONE Look, ma'am, I'm a lawyer.

WOMAN How old are you?

SOMEONE Forty.

WOMAN Where do you work?

SOMEONE In an office. (under pressure) Here, look, I have my work papers, I have my union card. I've been a Republican my whole life.

WOMAN What have you done today to win the war?

SOMEONE Same thing I do every day.

WOMAN What time did you get up?

SOMEONE At nine.

WOMAN What time did you go to the office?

SOMEONE At eleven.

WOMAN What time did you leave?

SOMEONE At one-thirty.

WOMAN What do you do in the afternoons?

SOMEONE I go to the café.

WOMAN And then?

SOMEONE I go home before curfew.

WOMAN Before the war, what did you do?

SOMEONE Same thing.

WOMAN Aren't you ashamed of yourself?

SOMEONE Well, no one ever asked me to do more than that . . .

WOMAN But do you need them to make you put your work or your knowledge at the service of something? Did you ever think yourself that your skills might be useful?

SOMEONE Yes.

WOMAN If you did, why don't you help fight?

SOMEONE I'm too old.

WOMAN Have some faith. You're letting yourself down by not trying. Go and have a look. Then come back tomorrow and tell me what you've decided...