​

CAREER

​

Louis is the CEO of the Arts Theatre in London, a 350-seat recieving theatre founded in 1927. It is the home of The Choir of Man, and is where the smash hit, global phenomenon, Six the Musical, started its professional life.

​

As a producer, his work includes Olivier Award-winning Rotterdam, the Grammy- and Olivier-award nominated Amelie the Musical, Peaky Blinders: The Rise, Dolly Parton’s 9 to 5, Doctor Who: Time Fracture, Woody Sez and the Immersive Great Gatsby – the UK’s longest running immersive production. In 2019 he founded Immersive|LDN a specialist immersive theatre and event venue in central London.​

 

He currently is a partner in The Stranger in New York (winner best new nightlife experience 2023 - Time Out) with Aaron Mellor of Tokyo Industries and OTBA, the team behind infamous New York and London nightlife institution, The Box. 

​​

He jointly founded Immersive Everywhere, a company which works with major film studios to develop immersive experiences, and still sits on the board of Venues Everywhere, the venue management arm of this group of companies. In 2024 he collected the Thea Award for Outstanding Achievement in Live Interactive Experience globally for their production of Peaky Blinders: The Rise. 

​

He co-founded Kingswood Arts, a community organisation repurposing a 38-room historic stately home in South London, aimed at providing opportunity in the Arts for young people from underserved communities, with an emphasis on reclaiming and restoring the building for the Kingswood Estate community, who live around it.

​

Louis co-produced the only production ever to take place in the House of Commons - a production of Richard II to commemorate Shakepeare's 400th anniversary and he directed an immersive version of West Side Story for the King's Trust at the Savoy Ballroom, presented to King Charles III, raising over £1.5m in one night for the causes that the trust supports. 

​​

Louis has a Law Degree from the Open University. 

PROFESSIONAL BACKGROUND

​

Louis met Brian Hook while they were both working backstage at the Palace Theatre on The Producers, followed by the Manchester International Festival's inaugural production, Monkey: Journey to the West.

​

In 2007 they founded Hartshorn - Hook Productions which has gone on to produce over 100 productions across 5 continents. Selected credits for Hartshorn - Hook include: Rotterdam (59E59 New York, Trafalgar Studios), American Idiot (Arts, UK Tour), Urinetown (Apollo), Richard II (UK House of Commons), Woody Sez (Arts), Away From Home (UK and International Tour). H+H has also run venues at the Brighton festival fringe.

​

In the hospitality sector, he has co-created The Lucky Club, The Farrier in Camden, Above the Arts Theatre, a members' professional space at the Arts Theatre, which later become the Covent Garden Social Club in collaboration with JJ Goodman, a cocktail bar with nightly live entertainment.

 

In 2011 Louis and Gregory Batsleer created Pencil Music, a music company with an ethos of cross-genre experimentation. Venues include Village Underground in Shoreditch, Latitude and Wilderness Festivals and the Southbank Centre. Pencil has twice collaborated with DJ Nico Bentley, first creating a new version of Tarik O'Regan's The Ecstasies Above, followed in 2017 by a tour of Purcell's Dido and Aeneas with DJ, string quintet, harpsichord and sung by Festival Voices. Festival Voices continues to create extraordinary music in London and beyond. 

​

Louis joined the Arts Theatre in 2012 and became Executive Director in 2014, running the company alongside Managing Director Lizzie Scott. The Arts Theatre won the Broadway World Awards' Theatrical Venue of the Year 2016. In 2017 the theatre opened Above the Arts, a private members' club aimed at the entertainment industry.

​

In 2017, Hartshorn - Hook Productions received an Olivier Award for the play Rotterdam, by Jon Brittain and directed by Donnacadh O'Briain, in the category of Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre.

 

In 2019 the newly restructured Hartshorn – Hook Enterprises opened Immersive|LDN by Bond Street underground and transferred The Great Gatsby to the main performance space there for an open-ended run. In 2020 Amelie the Musical was nominated for 3 Olivier Awards, and a Grammy Award for the London Cast Recording.

​