The three plays in this volume are all - in different ways - about the battle of the sexes. Strindberg was working on The Father (1887) and Lady Julie (1888) when his first marriage to the actress Siri von Essen was breaking up, and he wrote Playing With Fire (1892) at a time when the couple were going through an acrimonious court battle to establish who was to be given custody of their three children.

The dramatic conflict is fuelled by sexual tension in all three plays and Strindberg depicts the various relationships as a power struggle. In a way, one could say that all the main characters are 'playing with fire' and that they get burnt in the process.