A brief journey through the diverse and eventful life of the renowned actor, “People’s Artist,” Viktor Gjoka. An in-memoriam for the actor who, despite being condemned to work in production due to the idiocy of the times and the communist system for loving another woman and marrying for the second time, never managed to suppress or distance himself from his profound love for theater.
“People’s Artist” Viktor Gjoka was born on July 4, 1922, in Peshtan, Tepelena, and passed away on October 26, 2007, in Italy. He began his artistic career in his youth with amateur movements. In 1946, he started working at the People’s Theater (now the National Theater) and continued until 1971. Before turning 20, he performed his first roles after many rehearsals with his idol, Mihal Popi.
Among his most successful roles, we mention Hlestakov in Gogol’s “The Government Inspector” (1952), “The Merry Wives of Windsor,” “The Second Face,” and “The Carnival of Korça.” After about 13 years of working in theater, in 1959 he managed to obtain a scholarship for directing studies in the Soviet Union for two years. After the break in relations in 1961, he returned to Tirana to continue his studies at the Tirana Conservatory. He returned to the People’s Theater in 1991 at the insistence of director Artur Zheji, where he took on the role of Spirak in the Romanian comedy “Titanic Waltz,” premiering with Roland Trebicka, while Gjoka performed on the second night—as he was a double—before returning to the comedy that brought him success in his early theater career, “The Government Inspector,” this time directed by Gjoka himself.
EDITED by:
“KORÇA BOOM”
