FINAL JOURNEY: Wanjiku Kiarie Sanderson, widow of Martyn Sanderson, accompanies his casket as it is carried from Rangiatea Church and up to the hilltop burial site nearby.
Leading film directors, playwrights, actors and poets were among about 400 people who turned out to pay a heartfelt farewell to veteran actor, writer and poet Martyn Sanderson, when he was buried in Rangiatea Church cemetery in Otaki.
Sanderson, 71, co-founded Downstage – Wellington’s first professional theatre – appeared in 26 New Zealand movies and was regarded as having one of the most distinctive voices in the industry.
A multicultural potpourri of songs and poems performed by Pakeha, Maori and Africans paid tribute yesterday to Sanderson. He was described as an unassuming, witty, highly intelligent and principled man, who possessed a great sense of adventure and cutting-edge creativity.
Born in the back of a model T-Ford on the West Coast, he became an Oxford scholar, ditched plans to become a priest and, on returning to New Zealand, pursued a career in acting and writing, co-founding Downstage with the hope of “changing the whole of society”.
Actor and director Ian Mune said that in the 1960s there was a perception that professional theatre was not needed. “But then along came this man who said, `Let’s stop talking about it and do it.’
“There was something about this singular man that drew people together … and turned the tide, not just in theatre but in the evolution of the arts as part of our community.
“It was timed with the great resurgence of Maori within the culture. He even brought Africa over,” Mune said, referring to the special connection Sanderson had with the African community in New Zealand after he married his second wife, Kenyan Wanjiku Kiarie.
Sanderson’s daughter Pippa said it was an honour for her father to be buried at Rangiatea alongside actress, poet, artist and friend Tungia Baker.
Leading artists paying their respects included Roma Potika, Briar Grace-Smith, Michael O’Leary, Lewis Scott, Geoff Murphy and Peter Vere-Jones.
Up until the time he died, Sanderson was working with his wife to produce the play Muntu, directed by Kenyan playwright Wakanyote Njuguna, whom the couple had brought to New Zealand.
The play was due to have its opening night in Otaki Memorial Hall on Friday and, despite his death, the family decided to continue with performances in honour of his life.
Comments