BBC Radio 4, 27 June 2013
Sometimes the main impression
of a radio play is completely at variance with its subject-matter. Sarah Cartwright's black comedy centred on Barney
(Daniel Rigby), one of life's losers, who has to come to terms with trying to pay a vet's bill for a major surgery on his
dog, encounters a kooky assistant called Carla (Oona Chaplin) with a parrot called Mittens, and ends up on the roof of a forty-four-storey
office block trying his best not co commit suicide. Throughout his various encounters Barney keeps up a first-person
narrative, in which he tells the listeners how he feels at any particular moment.
Of greater interest, perhaps, was writer Cartwright's
portrayal of Barney's office environment. Team-leader Dustin (Henry Lloyd-Hughes) was principally concerned with his
fake tan and his self-image; Mia (Fiona Button) was a good-time person; while Leanne (Philippa Stanton) tried her utmost to
keep in with everyone. They worked in a heartless environment, in which sales figures were the only thing that mattered,
and Barney functioned as the object of collective derision. Hence it was hardly surprising that Barney should contemplate
suicide - even though he never managed to do it.
Partly comic, partly a sad indictment of modern-day office shenanigans, The Means to an
End offered a salutary lesson. The director was Sally Avens.
