»In which we play merry[-]hell

The reason I earlier stumbled through several online reference dictionaries, including the Hobson-Jobson, was to determine the origin and punctuation of the phrase play merry hell. Does a hyphen belong between the latter two words? In that case, is merry-hell a particular sort of hell?

The Peevish Dictionary of British Slang cites this as a verb phrase: "To be very angry". Most citations or uses of this phrase on the internet omit the hyphen.

Where does this term originate? It does not ever seem to mean "wreak havoc", as the phrase "raising hell" does, but strictly "to be mad".