NOTE:  The visual images and signs used in this production are typical of Epic Theatre and serve the purpose of locating, framing and commenting the scene.  The images are by Heartfield and were chosen by the playwright for inclusion.  To see a full-screen version of the artwork, just click on the thumbnail version.  The text in boxes are signs for the character of Brecht.  During the play, these graphics will be projected onto the stage. 
 

Act III, Prologue

Brecht introduces the final act in the persona of Senator Joseph McCarthy rousing the country to a frenzy of fear over communist infiltration of the government, state department, colleges, and the arts. Brecht ends the prologue as himself, reminding the audience that they are watching Epic Theatre. 

Act III, Scene 1 

Graphic: 

The war is over and Tom and Lina have married and joined the American Dream. Their son (Johnny's grandson) John, plays in a rock and roll band in the garage of their suburban home. The young people sing of their disillusionment with the American Dream 
while Tom and Lina watch television and wonder where things went wrong. 

Lina remembers the death of her first son, Malik, during a postwar visit to London to see Johnny and Gertrud. The memory leads to a duet between Lina and Johnny about their experiences and what the future holds for them and for society as a whole. 

Act III, Scene 2 
Graphics:

The secret of peace is not to make our achievements equal to our desires, but to lower our desires to the level of our achievements.

There is little friendship in the world – least of all between equals

George, now a sad and disillusioned man, writes to Johnny of the pleasure he feels that some sense of their friendship survives. He commiserates that Johnny must endure the suspicions of the new communist government in East Berlin after a life time of work for the communist party. But most of all, George's words embody his desire for the past and his disappointment with the present. This is emphasized by Dietrich singing of her longing for the old days, the days before the war."

Act III, Scene 3 

In 1950 Johnny and Gertrud returned to East Berlin to rebuild their lives. Although a record of the meeting does not exist, Wieland, Johnny and George Grosz met and go for a walk on June 20, 1951. It was their first meeting in 18 years. Gertrud sings of the friend's reunion. 

Act III, Scene 4 

Graphics: 

Some nations wax, some wane, and in a brief space the races of living things are changed and like runners hand over the lamp of life.

Johnny, Gertrud, Wieland, Tom and Lina talk at a café table in 1968 about both the past and the future. Johnny expresses the thought that he has managed to live long enough to see the world change. He points to the counter culture, the protest against the Vietnam war, Black power, women's lib, the Paris student uprising, and the Cultural Revolution in China as unmistakable signs. 
The play concludes with "Still It Moves" and the thought that despite it all, the world continues. 
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