I met Paul Bhattacharjee in 1978 when he walked into a Southall workshop we were holding to recruit Asian actors. He was the only one that day. At 18 he was skinny, slightly gap-toothed and very beautiful. He had no formal training but knew he wanted to make theatre. He was passionately idealistic, both artistically and politically, and as a Hindu Jewish boy from Harrow, was fired by a need to combat the raw and brutal racism of 70s Britain and to use theatre to change the world.
Paul's commitment and fearlessness were unwavering and his determination to make the best work he could produced some remarkable and exhilarating performances. The last project we discussed was a reworking of Pushkin's The Queen of Spades – a foray into his Russian heritage. I was looking forward to exploring big ideas with him again; to him the politics of theatre were as important as making theatre. I will miss Paul's camaraderie, his eloquent stillness, his zeal.