Tag: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

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REVIEW: Neon Crypt in The Hound Of The Baskervilles, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, howling until Saturday ****

Moustaches en masse: Laura McKeller, left, Michael Cornell and Laura Castle in Neon Crypt’s The Hound Of The Baskervilles

AFTER Dracula: The Bloody Truth and The Wetwang Hauntings in 2025, mischief-making York company Neon Crypt put the gothic humour into horror once more for a fright in every comic bite in John Nicholson’s particularly silly take on The Hound Of The Baskervilles.

In the spirit of Patrick Barlow’s The 39 Steps, the late Maggie Fox and Sue Ryding’s Lip Service and indeed Nicholson’s work with Peepolykus and Le Navet Bete, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s “consulting detective” Sherlock Holmes is stretched to caricature, if still recognisable in deer stalker and pipe, but now taking on multiple disguises, from hirsute hermit to a hot dog costume. No violin, no recreational narcotics, but plenty of schtick, Sherlock.

What’s more, under Jamie McKeller’s direction, Neon Crypt’s Holmes is played by a woman,  Laura McKeller, in ponytails, waistcoat and waxed moustache, but with no change of gender in the aloof brain-box characterisation.

Quick on the draw: Laura Castle’s pistol-packing Dr Watson in Neon Crypt’s The Hound Of The Baskervilles

Likewise, Laura Castle follows up her Dracula with Dr John Watson, wearing the same Victorian two-piece that Elexi Walker’s penny farthing-cycling Watson sported in Damian Cruden’s ‘Baskerville’ production at York Theatre Royal in 2016.

Like the other Laura, Castle’s Watson is moustachioed, again with no change of pronouns. The voice is West Riding, the manner no-nonsense amid all the comic nonsense, conducting investigations with earnest rigour, yet all the more humorous for that. Her Watson is quick on the draw too, whether reaching for sketch pad or pistol.

Aside from a West Country rustic, Laura C will put all her eggs in the sterling Watson basket. By comparison, Laura M must navigate more costume changes than Cher in concert, not only Sherlock’s multiple disguises on the moor, but also whizzing between Mr and Mrs Barrymore; the train guard; Cecile Stapleton; Jack Stapleton and Slasher Seldon, “the Notting Hill murderer”.

Laura McKeller’s Sherlock Holmes in hot dog disguise in Neon Crypt’s The Hound Of The Baskervilles as Laura Castle’s Dr Watson looks on, strangely reminiscent of Charlie Chaplin in City Lights!

Michael Cornell, now a cross-dressing fixture as the dame in the Rowntree Players pantomime, is almost as busy as Laura M on the multi-rolling front, switching with alacrity and elasticity from Sir Henry Baskerville to Sir Charles Baskerville, Dr Mortimer to a cabbie, one meat-wielding Yokel to another (in denial of being the same character, distinguished only by the cut of meat in the bag).

All the while, York author and poet Rebecca Payne is lurking in the Theatre@41 shadows for the third time as Neon Crypt’s stage manager,  except that this time she steps out of those shadows to appear on stage frequently, silent, but over-worked, handling all the scenery changes and prop exchanges, when not overseeing quick-fire costume changes from the wings.

In a running  joke – and she really is on the move all the time – Rebecca accumulates a tidy sum in tips for each prop or scene change, albeit handed over increasingly begrudgingly by Cornell in particular.

Crucial too is the work of sound tech Jess Whitehead, who is called on to engineer all manner of noises, sometimes frightening, more often funny, in the tradition of Foley artists on 1950s’ radio. Listen out for the sax solo from Gerry Rafferty’s hit at every mention of Baker Street, accompanied hastily by Cornell on a blow-up pink saxophone.

Michael Cornwell multi-rolling in Neon Crypt’s The Hound Of The Baskervilles

Jamie McKeller conducts the still familiar Conan Doyle thriller with brisk purpose, physical flair and set-piece swagger, giving free rein to his cast to express ridiculous characterisation, comedic camaraderie and comic timing, with room for ad-libbing and smashing down theatre’s fourth wall to revert to being Laura C, Laura M and Michael.  

Neon Crypt stay true to the verbal and visual ingenuity of Nicholson and Steven Canny’s script and stage instructions, first staged by Peepolykus at the West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds in 2007, while applying their own free-spirited comedic style, daft yet deft.

You would be howling mad to miss this Hound Of The Baskervilles.  

Neon Crypt Productions in The Hound Of The Baskervilles, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, 7.30pm tonight and tomorrow; 2.30pm and 7.30pm, Saturday. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Stage manager Rebecca Payne, right, joining in the Sherlock shenanigans at the finale to The Hound Of The Baskervilles

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Neon Crypt bring added comic bite to The Hound Of The Baskervilles at Theatre@41

Michael Cornell’s Sir Henry Baskerville, Laura McKeller’s Sherlock Holmes, centre, and Laura Castle’s Dr John Watson in Neon Crypt’s The Hound Of The Baskervilles

YORK Gothic humorists Neon Crypt will serve up The Hound Of The Baskervilles with side-splitting stupidity, hot dog disguises and absolute terror at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, from May 5 to 9.

Expect a relentlessly silly, very funny and very fast-paced show suitable for all ages, albeit with some mild peril, as Laura McKeller, Laura Castle and Michael Cornell tackle a typically high-brow, 120-minute adaptation by Peepolykus co-founder John Nicholson, in the wake of staging Nicholson and Le Navet Bete’s Dracula: The Bloody Truth last May.

Directed by Jamie McKeller, alias York ghost walk supremo Dr Dorian Deathly of Deathly Dark Tours, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s most celebrated Sherlock Holmes story is given a madcap makeover as Holmes and Dr Watson are summoned to investigate the ancient curse of the Hound of the Baskervilles.

To do so, they must unravel the mysterious death of Sir Charles Baskerville, who is found dead on his estate, with a look of terror still etched on his face and the paw prints of a gigantic hound beside his body.

The Hound Of The Baskervilles director Jamie McKeller in Dr Dorian Deathly ghost walk guide mode

“Our memories of The Hound Of The Baskervilles in York go way back to York Theatre Royal doing it with panto villain David Leonard as Holmes [in 2016],” says Jamie. “Within Neon Crypt, there are four of us, and we get together to throw it around the room, saying ‘you read this part’, ‘you read that part’, and it ended up landing the way it has with the two Lauras as Holmes and Watson and Michael playing Sir Henry Baskerville, Sir Charles Baskerville, Dr Mortimer, a cabbie and multiple meat-wielding Yokels.

“We knew one of us would direct the show, and the general feeling was that it would go a certain way, but it didn’t go the way we thought it would! I thought I’d end up as Holmes because he’s so stoic, but then Laura [McKeller] read the part and nailed the arrogance and Basil Rathbone air of ‘Britishness’.

“Laura [Castle] has such an everyman quality to her acting, and she started to read Dr John Watson in an Received Pronunciation English accent, but I said, ‘no, give me Bradford, give me the moors, give me West Yorkshire’, and that’s how she’s now playing him.”

Laura C will focus on Watson and a Yokel, while Laura M will be even busier in her multi-role-playing duties than Cornell. “She’s doing at least ten roles because Holmes is not always present. She’ll be Mr and Mrs Barrymore; the train guard; Cecile Stapleton; Jack Stapleton and Slasher Selden, ‘the Notting Hill murderer’, among others,” says Jamie.

Laura McKeller’s Sherlock Holmes in hot dog disguise in Neon Crypt’s The Hound Of he Baskervilles

“She has to go off, change character and be back on in a heartbeat – and our stage manager, Rebecca Payne, will be multi-rolling too with all the scenes changes, costume changes and props, so she’s as much a character in the show as the other three. Though she doesn’t say anything, she has to do a lot on stage, with the running joke of the cast tipping her every time she comes on but becoming more and more begrudging about doing that.”

Analysing The Hound Of The Baskervilles’ abiding popularity, Jamie says “It’s a good sleuth story where the audience feels ‘Let’s go sleuthing’. If anything, in this version, the story is on the backburner, so there are moments when the sleuthing is going on, where we have to find the chance to hit the brakes to say to the audience, ‘Are you keeping up?’.

“We’re staging it on a thrust set design, so the audience are invited into the action straightaway. Within 30 seconds, the house lights are up and the audience are involved.

“The show is right up our street in terms of silliness, and though we place it in the late-1800s, with Watson in a Victorian two-piece and Holmes in a deer stalker and cape, the cast can break out of the period setting, like the moment when they pull out a mobile phone.”

No smoke without (gun) fire: Laura Castle’s Dr John Watson in Neon Crypt’s The Hound Of The Baskervilles

The two Lauras wore Holmes and Watson’s waxed moustaches in rehearsal for the first time last night (30/4/2026). “But Laura M is no stranger to having moustaches and mono-brows on stage,” says Jamie. “Laura C likes to do her nails with themed symbols on: bats for her Dracula last time; now moustaches on blue nails for Doctor John Watson!”

From Star Wars music in one scene to the bubbling bromance of Holmes and Watson, anything could happen in Neon Crypt’s show. “I think there’s permission that if anyone ‘cracks’ on stage in a preposterous comedy, it’s not the end of the world,” posits Jamie. “It makes it feel more grounded, and you’re at such close quarters with the audience at Theatre@41 that it’s a really transformative venue, where you can have it anyway you want.”

Jamie has plenty on his thespian plate, by the way. “I’ll be playing Frank in Jim Paterson’s production of Educating Rita for Black Treacle Theatre in June, and with the volume of lines in each show, I couldn’t have done both Sherlock and Frank,” he says.

Neon Crypt in The Hound Of The Baskervilles, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, May 5 to 9, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Florence Poskitt: Playing hairdresser and Open University Eng Lit student Rita in Black Treacle Theatre’s June production of Educating Rita

YORK company Black Treacle Theatre will present Educating Rita, Willy Russell’s warm, witty and moving two-hander about the power of education to change lives, at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, from June 9 to 13.

Company founder and director Jim Paterson will direct Jamie McKeller and Florence Poskitt in Russell’s tale of Rita, a working-class hairdresser hungry for something more, signing up for an Open University literature course.

There she meets Frank, a disillusioned academic whose passion for teaching has long faded. Their weekly tutorials become a battle of ideas, humour and honesty as Rita’s confidence blossoms and heavy-drinking Frank wrestles with his demons and the possibility of a second chance.

As Rita discovers the worlds of art, culture and self-expression, she begins to question the life others expect her to live. Change, however, comes with difficult choices, whereupon both teacher and student must reconsider who they are and who they want to be. Tickets for the 7.30pm performances are on sale at tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Coming next from Neon Crypt

NEON Crypt will stage The Battersea Poltergeist and Uncanny podcaster, broadcaster and journalist Danny Robbins’s smart, modern-day London supernatural thriller 2:22 A Ghost Story at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, in Halloween week.

“Nick Hern Books contacted us to say the rights were becoming available from midday that day and would we be interested?” says Neon Crypt artistic director Jamie McKeller, who will feature in the cast alongside Laura McKeller, Laura Castle and Michael Cornell, directed by Alex King.

More details will follow.

Dr Dorian Deathly: Making the Grand Opera House his latest haunt for ghost stories

Deathly Dark Tours to go behind scenes at Grand Opera House on May 25

DR Dorian Deathly, alias Jamie McKeller, is teaming up with the Grand Opera House, York, for a “unique experience on stage and behind the scenes after dark” as visitors investigate the Cumberland Street theatre’s 120-year history with the York ghost walk host on May 25.

Deathly Dark Tours supremo Dorian will lead ghost-walkers on a backstage tour replete with stories of people connected with the theatre’s past. Tours will start at 6pm, 7pm and 8pm. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

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Why Serena is playing only men in farcical overhaul of The Hound Of The Baskervilles

Niall Ransome as Dr Watson, Jake Ferretti as Sherlock Holmes and Serena Manteghi as Henry Baskerville in The Hound Of The Baskervilles, on tour at York Theatre Royal from Tuesday

THE Hound Of The Baskervilles is at loose this Haunted Season at York Theatre Royal, returning Serena Manteghi to the city where she cut her acting teeth.

“I studied [at the University of York] and lived in York for many years and still work there often,” she says, ahead of the October 19 to 23 run. “It’s my spiritual home and I’ve been assured I can now call myself an honorary Yorkshire lass, so I’m very much looking forward to heading back there.”

Although based in London, Serena has spent plenty of time up north this summer, performing in early August in Alexander Wright and Phil Grainger’s Eurydice at Theatre At The Mill, Stillington, and later that month in the Harrogate Theatre community play Our Gate in and around the Wesley Centre, Harrogate.

Now she is part of a fast-moving cast of three in Lotte Wakeham’s production of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s most celebrated detective tale as it receives a farcical overhaul, with Serena playing only men in Steven Canny and John Nicholson’s adaptation, first staged by Peepolykus in 2007 with West End success.

The story is as familiar as ever: world-renowned detective Sherlock Holmes and his colleague Dr Watson are asked to unravel the mystery surrounding the untimely death of Sir Charles Baskerville. Amid rumours of a cursed giant hound loose on the moors, they must act fast in order to save the Baskerville family’s last remaining heir.

“Yes, they’re all male characters that I’m playing, but I’ve not really thought about their gender; you just play the character – and I have played men before,” says Serena Manteghi, as she shares a laugh with Niall Ransome. left, and Jake Ferretti

What ensues, however, is an exhilarating collision of farce, ingenious theatrical invention and comic performances to “offer a brand-new twist on the greatest detective story of all time”, in the hands of the multi role-playing Serena, Jake Ferretti’s Sherlock Holmes and Niall Ransome’s Dr Watson.

“I play a whole host of colourful characters, including Sir Charles Baskerville, Dr Mortimer, a helpful London cabbie, three ‘yokels’ (one wise, two less so) and last but not least, the romantic lead (after Dr Watson, of course) and newest Squire of Baskerville Hall, Sir Henry Baskerville,” says Serena, who heads to York after breaking in the Bolton Octagon Theatre and Original Theatre Company production on the road under tour director Tim Jackson following rehearsals in London.

“Yes, they’re all male characters that I’m playing, but I’ve not really thought about their gender; you just play the character – and I have played men before.

“There were male characters in Build A Rocket, Christopher York’s one-woman play I did for the Stephen Joseph Theatre [Scarborough], and I played Rene Magritte in Belt Up Theatre’s Lorca Is Dead [York Theatre Royal, May 2010].

“And there are female characters in this show, played by Jake Ferretti, just as they were played by men when it was created by three wonderful performers [Javier Marzan, John Nicholson and Jason Thorpe]. I predominantly play Sir Henry, in the spirit of that original production.”

Serena Manteghi as LV in The Rise And Fall Of Little Voice at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, in 2017. Picture: Tony Bartholomew

One consequence has come from the four weeks of shows so far, demanding more than “Olympian dexterity” from Serena, Jack and Niall. “It’s been quite hard on my voice because I’m having to use a much lower register all the time, so I have to work hard on my warm-ups,” says Serena, who is no stranger to challenging her vocal cords, having played LV, with all her singing voices, in The Rise And Fall Of Little Voice at the SJT in 2017.

Likewise, The Hound Of The Baskervilles, and indeed myriad Sherlock Holmes stories have been stretched in multiple ways. “I think the books are woven so deeply and lovingly into our cultural vocabulary that, growing up in the UK, you feel the infamous Holmes and Watson are just a part of the literary furniture, as it were. Like Father Christmas,” says Serena.

“That said, I absolutely loved the recent BBC adaptations [starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman] and would tune in as soon as they were aired for fear of someone spoiling the mystery.

“I think the diverse versions work because the Holmes and Watson partnership is so iconic; the performers and the audience begin from such a familiar starting point and that means you can take them on a slightly unexpected journey.”

Holmes and Watson are embedded in our cultural psyche as much as Morecambe & Wise, suggests Serena. “They’re loved just as much, and that dynamic is beautifully honoured by Jack and Niall; that joy Holmes and Watson have in each other’s company, which is so apparent in Conan Doyle’s writing,” she says.

“It’s an utter pleasure to perform ,” says Serena Manteghi of Peepolykus duo Steven Canny and John Nicholson’s stage adaptation of The Hound Of The Baskervilles, as she teams up with Jake Ferretti and Niall Ransome

“Any literary die-hard fanatics of Conan Doyle will be pleasantly surprised by our show: it’s a comedy retelling,  written by a well-established comedy partnership in Steven Canny and John Nicholson – we met John when he came to see it in Exeter – and it’s an utter pleasure to perform. You’d be very hard-pressed not to enjoy yourself watching this play.”

Ah, but  is it still scary, Serena? “There are some scares, but it leans heavily on the humour, less so on scariness,” she says. “Every spooky note is buttoned with a gag, but it’s not a send-up. It never mocks the story; it’s more an affectionate take on it.

“Very often, when you have farcical versions of the classics, you have to leave behind the story, but here you do get the whole story, just laden with joy and fun.”

Look out for David Woodhead’s set and costume designs too. “They’re beautiful. That’s another reason to see the show,” says Serena. “The set is just gorgeous to behold, elevated and malleable for multiple uses, and everything we wear is beautifully made.” In other words, no tat, Sherlock!

Original Theatre Company and Octagon Theatre Bolton present The Hound Of The Baskervilles, York Theatre Royal, October 19 to 23, 7.30pm; 2pm, Thursday; 2.30pm, Saturday. Age guidance: eight upwards. Box office: 01904 623568 or at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

By Charles Hutchinson