Neon Crypt Productions are taking a bite out of York’s theatre scene with a horror-comedy Dracula debut.
The new theatre company, owned by Jamie and Laura McKeller, have big plans to bring plenty of spooky shenanigans to the city.
YorkMix spoke with Jamie and Laura to find out more about what’s to come.
Jamie McKeller is no stranger to York’s theatrical scene, better known as leading the Deathly Dark Ghost Tours as Dorian Deathly. He’s also been acting since the mid-90s, but he drifted from acting into filmmaking.
“However, the pandemic changed everything,” said Jamie. “This is when we began running the Ghost Tours.”
York’s Deathly Dark Ghost Tours has led to great success – and as it celebrates its fifth year this August, it’s now a staple of the city’s spooky offerings.
But Jamie’s passion for the stage never faded, and after appearing in and directing productions for York theatre company Rowntree Players, he felt it was time to launch a theatre company of his own.
With the support of his wife, fellow actor Laura McKeller, the idea became a reality. “I turned to Laura, and I said; Hey, I know we’re really busy, and we’ve got loads going on, but can I? Can I do this?”
And so Neon Crypt Productions was born.
The new company is an extension of their already successful and established film company Neon Crypt Films – the name change is to encompass their other passions and projects, like theatre.
When choosing their first production, inspiration struck during a trip to the theatre, “I went to see Dracula in Scarborough at the Stephen Joseph theatre last year with my mum.
“On the way out, she said she could see me doing something similar – and that was it, I ordered the scripts, secured the rights, booked the theatre, and now we’re buying furniture.”
Neon Crypt Productions are presenting their own adaptation of Dracula from physical comedy troupe La Navet Bete.
“We knew we were going to go into the horror comedy aspect,” said Jamie. “That was always going to be what our company is about.
“We wanted something funny and horror and a bit scary and jumpy.
It helps that it’s a classic story as well, which is on brand for what we do – we tell ghost stories in York.”
The production includes a cast of four professional actors, including YorkMix’s very own Laura Castle as the title role of Dracula, and Jamie and Laura themselves as Van Helsing and Mina.
Michael Cornell completes the cast as Jonathan Harker.
Neon Crypt Productions have four dates over the next two years already booked in at Theatre@41, and have planned for up to the end of 2026.
Future productions will include The Wetwang Hauntings in November – a comedy-horror fictitious podcast that’s based around a series of fake hauntings in the 90s, written by Jamie and two of his Deathly Dark co-stars. The show will take place for Halloween and “we’re hoping that’s going to be a no-brainer.”
“I’d like to do a production of Little Shop of Horrors at some point,” Jamie revealed. “Which is really stepping out of the boundaries of ‘horror’.”
The plan is for Neon Crypt Productions to have a mix of self-written shows and established productions.
Jamie and Laura have big plans for the theatre company for the future such as taking their productions on tour around the UK. “Two or three years down the road we want to take this to the professional level.
“We’re just excited to get going with it – we’ve committed ourselves to four shows in two years. It might just be a two-year adventure or it could be 20 years from now and we’re doing all sorts of shows.”
Rehearsals for Dracula will start in March, but Jamie and Laura are already busy figuring out how to scale down the show for the theatre space, and sourcing props and set pieces.
Speaking about Dracula, Jamie said, “It’s not going to be a ground-breaking, revolutionary piece of theatre.
“But you want to come along and laugh and come away feeling in a better place than you were when you enter the building – that’s what theatre for me is all about.”
Dracula is at Theatre@41 from Tuesday 6 to Saturday 10 May 2025. Tickets start from £13 and are available via the theatre website.
Keep up to date with Neon Crypt Productions at their Facebook page here.