historical Chekhov questions

[Anya Saffir]

SUBJECT: Cherry Orchard questions

Hello. Very grateful to have found this site!

I am working on a production of Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard and have two questions I am struggling to find the answer to:

1) Gaev says "I am a man of the 80s. Everyone makes fun of those years, but I am proud to call myself a liberal. That is why the peasant loves me." What does "a man of the 80s" mean? What qualities might he be refering to?

2) What is the significance (if any) of the fact that the visiting orchestra is Jewish? Is this important? Was a traveling Jewish orchestra an unsurprising thing to show up at one's door around the turn of the century in provincial Russia?

Any help at all would be much appreciated!

Thank you.

Anya Saffir

[pooks123]

http://www.gradesaver.com/ClassicNotes/Titles/cherry/abo ut.html