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Jessica Yates recalls Christopher's time with the Tower Theatre ......
Chrisopher Yates (25 December 1942 – 21 January 2025) was a loyal Tower member who performed in many supporting roles from 1974 to 2013, including several visits to the Minack theatre and Paris.
He moved to London in 1971 to work as a professional librarian, having acted at school and with Nottingham Theatre Club, notably as Major Barbara’s love interest, and as a priest in The Royal Hunt of the Sun. He performed in contemporary and period plays, in musicals and pantomimes, and of course in the Bard.
 The Taming of the Shrew (2013) (with Martin Shaw)
Even when his role was tiny, he enjoyed acting in a well-made play, for example Arcadia (1999), and alongside Tower greats such as Ian Recordon and Jill Batty in Murder in the Cathedral (2006), He loved playing the secretary to Queen Elizabeth I (Penny Tuerk) who collects the death warrant of Mary Queen of Scots (Jill Batty) in Vivat! Vivat Regina! (Minack, 1975). Other favourite roles were the lawyer who stops the wedding of Rochester to Jane Eyre (Minack, 2004) and Fabian to Recordon’s Malvolio (Paris, 2008) where they played together in the famous letter scene.
 As a jolly priest in
Murder in the Cathedral (2006)
He played multiple roles in Under Milk Wood (2002), and in Cold Comfort Farm (2002) he played the yokel Adam Lambsbreath, and smuggled his teenage daughter Emily into the cast as the peasant girl Dandelion. Other favourites were Mazzini Dunn in Heartbreak House (2007) and Starveling/Moonshine in The Dream (Paris, 2012).
 Jane Eyre (2004)
He was of course a regular member of the audience along with his wife Jessica, and among their favourites were the musicals Cabaret, The Threepenny Opera and A Little Night Music. For other companies he acted the Duke in Othello, Verges in Much Ado, and several roles for the Players of St Peter who perform a selection of medieval mystery plays every December, including, awesomely, God! He also sang tenor leads in Gilbert and Sullivan.
As his companion on many Tower visits and his occasional coach in line-learning, I would like to thank the Tower Theatre for providing so many fulfilling experiences for us over nearly forty years.
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