[citation needed] In 1963, the Belgrade staged England's next play The Big Contract, a story of industrial dispute in a large firm.
Safety across the border lies 400 miles away; in the meantime, they must make their way through alien territory, battling the climate and the terrain as well as the enemy's soldiers and helicopters.
The Times called the book "a fiercely masochistic accomplishment" and concluded another review as follows: Barry England's prose has the tough, spare elegance of steel scaffolding.
The speed of the narrative is impeccably controlled – long slogs over country, moments of blind panic, passages of demoralizing inactivity, hair-raising evasions, all building up to a central set-piece in a burning field.
On all levels, Figures in a Landscape is a brilliant achievement.In 1970 the novel was made into a film directed by Joseph Losey with Robert Shaw and Malcolm McDowell in the two main roles.