Porfiry Petrovic
The Police Inspector from the Dostoyevsky classic ‘Conversation in the nature of Evil’ is more than a cop chasing a killer. He is a career army officer turned policeman, then detective. He has reached his current position by being successful at his specialty – Psychological Profiling. This has come into focus as he is convinced that Raskolnikov is his killer. If only he had some evidence! Translating his quarry`s persona as someone looking for a way to tell his story, Porfiry nudges him toward confession – his only tool to hand, there being no evidence. This is true ‘Crime and Punishment’
At times, this portrayal has become a tight-rope walk. While having three distinct scenes with Raskolnikov, and approaching him three different ways, trying to be the Policeman, the Father confessor figure, and the professional investigator, Porfiry must stand on his own as a surprising character, full of confidence, caring, and capable of turning corners in a mental maze extremely quickly in order to overtake this young killer.
As usual, relying on the script has been my main focus (Even if, two weeks from first night, I am still paraphrasing too much!), with repeated words and phrases becoming the anchors for my mental processes. I have decided to start with the statement that – even before I meet him – I know that Raslkolnikov is the killer. I bring in a back story that places me in a similar situation (this matches a scene three speech I make.), albeit in a legal setting. Perhaps I need to `suffer for my crimes`, because I haven`t up to this point. Possibly, I know that `Confession is required`, because I have never confessed. On face value, perhaps I DO care for Raskolnikov (or at least someone of his young age – that he still has time to close the book on this chapter of his life, and move on.) or even, I am a figment of his imagination, so have the freedom to act as eccentrically as I want to on those lines that I still have question-marked on my script.
While there are two more characters to play, and the extremely fast times I have to make these changes, these are more straight forward. It is the Police Inspector that is taking my time, and he truly is a fascinating man – another repeated phrase. Do I actually have a plan? Research tells me that ‘Columbo’ was based on Porfiry. I’m am trying hard not to move to that side of the scale, preferring to straddle both.
