ACTOR AND CHARACTER | BEP SHIROKA “THE FANATIC” AND “THE GENDARME” OF THE SCREEN!

ACTOR AND CHARACTER | BEP SHIROKA
“THE FANATIC” AND “GENDERME” OF THE SCREEN!

The great artist Bep Shiroka, like all other children, at his time, also started with those children’s performances of the Neiborhood . The first “nest” was the basement of the house. His first teacher was Lec Sekuj, who later, when Bepi was in the third grade, would activate him with a pleasant and educational drama such as “Repentant street guys”.

Then his path will continue with recitations and interpretations of theatrical pieces. In 1945, he played in the drama “War of Tirana” by S. Vaqari, which was staged by the “Pioneer House”. In this artistic house, he is also involved in the “Painting Circle”, in the “Children’s Choir”, in everything artistic, perhaps starting from his curious nature. Even later, he became active in the theater group of the “House of Culture”. Shiroka collaborated first with Teufik Duka, then with Andrea Skanjeti, as directors, and for a short time with the artist Preng Lëkunda.

All this without having the thought of acting or becoming a part of the theater, although slowly, in an incomprehensible way, the desire to see such shows without ever missing came. In fact, the main desire, which would have been his path, was the painting that he owned throughout his life! It is also a curiosity that Bep Shiroka was accepted as a member of the League of Writers and Artists as a painter and not as an actor!

As he himself said, “as an actor I came from the street”! At the time, he worked at NTLUS. One beautiful spring day, he was taking a walk (this is a Shkodrans tradition) in the town square, when the director Andrea Skanjeti proposed to him “Bep, how would it be if you come to work in the theater?”
– “Who, me…?! Why do you think I do this job?!”
– “You come once, try it…!”

After setting a day and an hour, Bepi recites a poem in front of the jury, performs an étude based on it, and as a closing act shows a “Joke – Funny Short Story” (Barcolete), one of those with Shkodran`s humor. Surely they must have been satisfied, that after two days the courier of the “House of Culture” comes and asks. Cufi, the one the people of Shkodra called “Cuf kultura” in the city.

It was the year 1960 when he became part of the professional theater of the city. But let’s go back to the two characters that he embodied and that have remained in the history of cinema.

 WATCH THE VIDEO IN THE ROLES OF THE "FANATIC" AND THE "GENDERME"

Of course, Shkodra has not lacked humor and comedians. Laughter from Shkodran comes from mother’s milk. We emphasize that Bep Shiroka was born and grew up in a home that made humor. He is the son of Kolë Shiroka, known in Shkodër for his carnival humor and the grandson of Filip Daija, mentioned for the famous Shkodra`s “barcoletes”.

Bepi’s mother herself said: “In this house, laughs never stop”. This is how he grew up in a humorous environment and he definitely gained something. However, the actor Bep Shiroka has never introduced himself to the genre of humor or comedy, he liked dramatic roles more. Anyway, it will be precisely his father’s humor that will help him build the character of the gendarme in the movie “Concert in 1936”.

The first comedy that successfully passed the “exam” was “The Happy Couple” by Bik Pepa, which has a story in itself. It was originally a sketch (Short Humor). As soon as the great master of humor, the “People’s Artist”, Tano Banushi, sees it, he says that this should be a comedy. The indisputable author and “father” of this piece, Ludovik Pepa, does not hesitate. Everyone gets to work diligently and tirelessly, led by director and talented actor Serafin Fanko, who, let them “free”. Almost every day the cast and crew joked with each other before work on the comedy began. “Qit e prit” is a joke, both from the protagonist of the role of the “fanatic” Bep Shiroke, as well as from “aunt” Vitore Nino or even from Nefail Piraniqi in the role of the son-in-law, from Marie Qyrsaqi as the daughter, etc. Then came the artistic selection, and what remained of value became the meat of the comedy. The show premiered on December 14, 1974 on the stage of the “Migjeni” theater. The echo of success fell on the ears of the great actor Ndrekë Luca and later the directors of Kinostudio “Shqiperia e re” who have their suggestion to make a movie.

Even in the film, the main role of the “fanatic” is played by the “Merited Artist” Bep Shiroka, who has always thought saying that: “it seems to me that not much of a film has come out, as if it is a bit rigid, maybe they believed too much in the comedy from which it was ready”. As for the role achieved, he will continue like this: “I tried and they gave me, not because of that “Fanatic”, but because of the time that passed, that many have had two faces: one at home, one at work. So, the two-faced man was the basis. From what I have read in the press, my interpretation of this figure has been well received. Apparently, it has attracted attention”.

It should also be mentioned that the artist Bep Shiroka himself was lucky enough to decorate the comedy in question. So Fanatik’s house is made with “Shkodra musander”. The houses are silhouetted, while “the musandra” is realistic, the real prop. This was for the comedy staged by the “Migjeni” theater.

When the film was made, the decor, costume design was done with the clothes, furnishings and furniture of the actresses’ homes. Even, also took part in film Bepi’s beloved canary, which had the misfortune of falling down and dying at one point during the shoot! “It became murderous for the film. It hurt me…” (B. Shiroka)

 Photo gallery from the role of "fanatic" in "The Happy Couple"

 
 
 
 
 
 

Before we move on to the character of the “gendar” in the movie “Concert in 1936”, a thought about the figure of the aunt, with whom the “fanatic” dialogues during many sequences of the film, and who was masterfully interpreted by the actress Vitore Nino , “Merited Artist”, a brilliant actress. She had a sense of humor in all colors. It flowed quite naturally, without effort. In her originality, “aunt” had special friends…

For the role of “gendarme”, the work is different. It didn’t happen like in “The Happy Couple”. It was built with a script, a script for the movie. So there were other spaces. The roles were not built like in the theater. The director sends him (Shiroka) the script with the note: “Bep, choose, whoever you want for the role”. And Bepi likes the role of the gendarme, which he works on very willingly. Maybe it was also influenced by the wonderful group of the film such as Robert Ndrenika, Birçe Hasko, Roland Trebicka… all of them, all down to the last inhabitant of Libohova.

They also felt themselves part of this film. Perhaps for himself Bepi is the only film that has gone very well, although he has played in 20 such artistic films. In this film, he plays the role of a gendarme, who pretend that he is everything and nothing. This type of guy goes after the prefect, after the Mayor, after all the officials, he deals with drowning dogs, with putting up posters, that is, he deals with everything, he shouts to the sky in vain, but no one listens to him.

Then when it comes to details, there are certain people in mind, e.g. when he hits with a long stick, he means an employee in the theater, who used to carry a long stick when we did children’s shows. He rode into the orchestra pit, nervously shaking his birch. He didn’t even let the children laugh, even when it was a laughable scene.

 Photo gallery from the role of the gendarme in the movie "Concert in the year `36"
 
 
 

Yes, Shiroka acted in 20 other films, of which he liked, “The Happy Couple”, “Concert in `36”, even and “The Historian and the Chameleon” which had bad luck in itself as a film.

And his odyssey begins, when 600 m of film tape is waiting ….. They cut it, and then after it was glued back the parts. Then they called Bepi and the other actors once again after 6 months to shoot some more scenes, but the film was destroyed.

Bep Shiroka, in addition to being an actor, he is also known as a scenographer, even occupying an important place in his life. Whenever he took the role of a drama, he watched it with decor, even when he was not the scenographer of that play. He built the decor with his imagination. The first attempt to build a decor was the drama “Zekthi” by E. Vojnič. With his skills, he realizes 12 scenes of this drama. Then the honored artist has worked on 30 set designs, among them Fadil Kraja’s “Bullet in dowry”, B. Pepa’s “Happy Couple” comedy.

 WATCH THE VIDEO

But above all, in addition to acting and scenography, Bep Shiroka never gave up painting, as he himself has emphasized: “This painting is like the work of catching fish, an old habit. When we went on tour, I took the color tape with me. A landscape, a portrait, a sketch-idea, a composition… have been special pleasures for me! I participated in some national exhibition. For 25 years in a row I have been a regular fan of local exhibitions. Painting was my first love…”

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Albanian Cinematography in activity since 2013
Taken from the actor’s own interview some time ago and published in the book “Memory of a city” / albas 2019 / Xh. Bushati / p.52-74. Adapted for the page “Albanian Cinematography in the form of an article on September 25, 2020.
@The authorship of the article is entirely of Mr. Jahid Bushati.

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