Act III Part I

After many months, the evening of Madame Ranevskaya’s party has arrived. Withe the band playing in the background, the guests all enter the ballroom in couples, preparing to dance the grand rond. As well as the party, it is also the night that the estate is to be auctioned. Madame Ranevskaya’s brother Leonid Andreyevich Gayev has managed to secure a very small amount of money from their aunt in Yaroslav with which he hopes to be able to but the estate and keep it in the family. Varya becomes worried about paying the musicians and begins to yell at her neighbour for drinking, at Dunyasha for dancing and at Yepikhodov for playing billiards.

Later that evening, Trofimov teases Varya, calling her ‘Madame Lopakhina.’ Madame Ranevskaya tells him to stop, but then goes on to try to convince Varya herself that she should marry Lopakhin. Varys refues to agree, as she will not propose herself.