The play is the thing, Hamlet says, and I say: naughtiness is the thing. I neither care nor mind what my villains fight for or against, what I am after is their dramatic flair and eccentricity and originality. I prefer the three Metford sisters to the three Marys, Mata Hari to Mother Tereasa, Lady Macbeth to Cordelia, and again as Hamlet says: Villain[s], damned villain[s], and what else! Shall I couple hell?