"JO,"

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 2212, 29 August 1889, Page 2

"JO,"

The dramatised version of that part of Dickens' well-known work " Bleak House " which dea's with the oareer of I the Uttle street w«lf " Jo " la familiar to many of our readers through its perform, •noe by Mlbb J a rmy Lee a few years ago. A somewhat d ffirent version was presented last night by the Ogdeu Company, but the principal incidents la Jo's oareer are «ttll made the oentral points of Interess. Tae assumption of the principal oharaoter by " Baby " Ogden,. a Uttle girl of eorae Mvan summers, was a wonderful Illustration of juvenile talent. The little girl throughout the play revar lost sight of the ohaiacter she represented, and m both the humorous and the pathetic scenes she appeared to grasp the situation with the cue of an " old stager." Even the dying scene was rendered with a dramatic perfection that was simply marvellous m one so young. And it may be here remarked that the " Baby," as It pleas is the entrepreneurs to call her, was by no means exhausted by her efforts. She goeß home, takes her sapper and goes to bed. and sleeps a round of the oiock as all o her children of her age ought to do (but sometimes— to our knowledge— do not) The other characters were well : filled. Miss Fergas (Mrs H'Orsay Ogden) lepresented the parts of Lady DecUook and her erstwhile maid, Mdlle. Hortense, with great dr*mtt'o effect. Mr Ogdeu as Ddteotive Buokett was quite as bluff and warmhearted as Dickens wrote him down to be. Mr Dnnbir, as Mr Tolklnghorn, did himself an iuj«Moe m bis make*up, but not otherwise. The Rev Me Ohadband In this "aotlng edition" is somewhat more of a buffoon than In the novel, but Mr Harry Power made It an effective oharaoter. Mr Snpgsby, as Impersonated by Mr Smith, approached the region of caricature, bat Lii wurm-heavtedaeßs to tbe poor little outcast gilnod the sympathy of the andler cj. Tht« other par's were efficiently filled, and tbe various moving (noidents were closely followed and applauded by a crowded and fashionable hoQse. Thepourtrayal, In fact, was such a dramatlo eaooeta as Is not often seen here. This evenlr.g « Oliver Twlot" will chew I Baby Ogden la a letsß pathetic rold, and no doubt there will be a crowded bouse to watoh the fortunes of the boy who was so bold as to " ask for more.' ;