[1] McCrystal trained at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, winning a contract with Yorkshire TV upon graduation in 1981 to present young people's programmes.
On film, McCrystal has appeared in George Sluizer's Crimetime and as Principal Conway opposite Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone in Marc Webb's The Amazing Spider-Man 2.
After Peepolykus, McCrystal went on to direct stage productions for the Cambridge Footlights, including their 1998 show Between A Rock And A Hard Place which starred Richard Ayoade and John Oliver, and The Mighty Boosh.
He returned to the Playhouse two further times for productions of Kafka's Dick and The Killing of Sister George, the latter starring British comedian Jenny Eclair and Carla Mendonça.
In 2011, McCrystal was invited by Nicholas Hytner to work alongside him as Associate Director on the National Theatre's production of Richard Bean's One Man, Two Guvnors, a reworking of Carlo Goldoni's 18th century Commedia dell’arte play The Servant Of Two Masters.
McCrystal's broad input into the production included staging the renowned slapstick dinner scene at the end of Act One and was highlighted as a significant factor in the show's success.
In 2016, he was Comedy Director on the Royal Shakespeare Company's Don Quixote starring David Threlfall and Rufus Hound, with reviewers highlighting McCrystal's contribution to a production acclaimed as "joyous"[9] and "exuberant".
[11] In February 2018, McCrystal made his English National Opera (ENO) debut with Gilbert and Sullivan’s satirical fantasy Iolanthe, which received extensive press coverage before the production opened.
[22] He has also directed a feature version of The Bubonic Play, adapted from a stage production he devised for the 2005 Edinburgh Fringe Festival with a cast including Mathew Baynton.