A Child of the Jago

This new audio production of Morrison’s (Tale of Mean Streets) 1896 story starkly depicts life in the Old Jago, a fictionalized version of Shoreditch’s Old Nichol neighborhood. Young Dicky Perrott attempts to find his way the only way he knows, by following the grim rules of the Jago, where life is hardscrabble, and the choices are either stealing or toiling for paltry wages that will never provide more than crusts. The poorly educated Dicky does try to perform honest work as a shopboy for a time, but his efforts are thwarted by the nefarious Aaron Weech, a character who echoes Oliver Twist’s Fagin and accuses Dicky of selling the shop’s goods at a discount. Dicky is forced to leave the shop and return to the crime-filled, violent life of London’s East End. Nicholas Boulton, winner of the BBC Carleton Hobbs Award for Radio, offers perfectly clipped received pronunciation that brings this classic to life. Boulton uses pacing and pitch to elicit excitement during action scenes and sympathy during scenes that show impoverished Londoners starving in dark, dank rooms.