Play rehearsals for “My Fair Lady” are ramping up. As a result, my free time (aka writing time) has drastically been reduced as we prepare for the show’s opening next month. Granted, my first scene in the musical is my easiest (I’m a man from Hoxton who asks Professor Higgins where I’m from. No singing or dancing involved.) and my three lines shouldn’t give me too much trouble. Even the Yorkshire/Cockney blended accent isn’t too bad. No, the part that has me worried is my favorite part, the role of Professor Zoltan Karpathy, the Hungarian.

Karpathy is a blast to play. He is smart, obnoxious, slimy, charming, overbearing and friendly all rolled into one. He is the ultimate antagonist who you don’t even realize that he is one until the other character is engaged with him. It’s a terrifying prospect to be talking to someone and suddenly realize that not only is he your fellow antagonist, he had the potential to be your arch nemesis.

So who is your favorite antagonist in a book you’ve read recently?