Act III opens at a party in Lubov’s reception room. The Jewish band she heard in Act II is playing, and guests are dancing and playing pool. Varya enters, and Trofimov teases her, calling her Madame Lopakhin. She retorts that he is a “decayed gentleman” and then laments that they cannot even pay the musicians. Simeonov-Pischin is still looking to borrow money from someone to pay his interest, and Trofimov tells him that he could “turn everything upside down” if he did something else with the time he spends trying to pay off his loans (53). Simeonov-Pischin replies that Nietzsche said one could forge money and wonders if he should try it.

Charlotta performs some card tricks, throws her voice like a ventriloquist, and makes both Anya and Varya appear from behind a shawl. She leaves, and Simeonov-Pischin runs after her. Lubov wonders about her brother Gaev, who has gone to the estate’s auction. Varya tries to reassure her that Gaev must have bought the estate, as planned; the countess sent him the money to buy it in her name.

Trofimov enters, once again teasing Varya about being Madame Lopakhin. She gets angry with him, and Lubov asks why.