The name The Long And The Short And The Tall is used as a suggestion of inherent differences in the main characters, with their only shared trait being their membership of the patrol and their stationing in the Burmese Peninsula. The play addresses the issue of British public perception of the Japanese after the conclusion of World War II.
This unlikely group of people encounter an ethical situation, upon the capture a lone Japanese soldier who later becomes a prisoner of war. It explores war related issues about the treatment of Prisoners of War, and the justification of killing a man just because he has been labelled an 'enemy'.