Squabbles are thus transferred from the Venetian lagoon to Istria at the time of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, and the Venetian dialect is replaced by the melodious dialects of Istria, Karst and Trieste opening at the crossroads of three languages a new area of not only a linguistic playfulness, but also a challenging attempt of establishing a new level of communication. The play, says the well-known Slovenian director Vito Taufer, is "a metaphor of a multi-ethnic and multicultural world in which the authorities exploit a small man, a marginalized fisherman, whom they often manipulate as a serf on their political chess-board." Squabbles by Lucić is in this case the story that surpasses the borders sublimating the spirit of the times of discordance and at the same time dissecting notorious human nature and social relationships through the prism of the Mediterranean spirit and humour.