james inverne (playwright)

Growing up in and around a popular kosher hotel (in the town of Bournemouth on England’s South Coast) had a big impact on James Inverne, especially since that hotel was not only frequented by many important artists of the day, but was in many ways a show in and of itself. Inverne decided that his own artistic role would be as theater and music critic and, like his mentor, Jack Tinker of the UK’s Daily Mail, he worked to fulfill that role in a positive and supportive way. Aged 21, he became a theater reviewer for Plays And Players magazine as well as Classical CD Reviewer for the best-selling Mail On Sunday newspaper. He was also appointed Arts Editor for the UK’s Performance cable television channel.

Moving to Time Magazine, he spent six years there as European Performing Arts Correspondent, where his duties included theater reviewing but also a much wider net. Inverne worked on stories as varied as (mid-performance) violent attacks on artists in Mugabe’s Zimbabwe, to cross-cultural theater groups in Israel, to in-depth interviews with leading lights of theater, film and classical music. During this time he was also a regular arts feature writer and theater critic for The Wall Street Journal, arts commentator for CNN, and wrote often for other publications, principally including the Sunday Telegraph, Financial Times, UK Metro and Playbill (where he was London Theater Correspondent). He has also been a regular commentator on various other radio and television outlets, including the BBC, Classic FM and NPR.

On becoming the Editor of his long-time favorite magazine, Gramophone (and its associated web properties), Inverne worked to bring in classical-music-loving artists from other art forms. During his editorship, he featured columns and articles by, amongst others, Robert Redford, Simon Callow, Armando Iannucci, Richard Eyre, Mark Morris, Sophia Loren, and very many more. He also led the exposure of the infamous ‘Joyce Hatto piano fraud’, which inspired a prime time BBC television drama by Victoria Wood (in which Inverne features as a character), for which campaign he won the prestigious Press Gazette Award for “Exclusive of the Year”. He also won the HMG Chairman’s Award for a magazine he founded (and edited for four years) for the Sundance Institute and Film Festival. He has created magazines for other arts institutions including Carnegie Hall, the Aspen Music Festival and School and revamped all the theater programs for Delfont Mackintosh Theatres (Cameron Mackintosh’s West End theater group).

Inverne, who divides his time between Israel and the UK, has written five books, among them The Impresarios (Oberon), Wrestling With Elephants: The Authorised Biography of Don Black (Sanctuary) and The Faber Guide To Musicals (Faber & Faber). Alongside his writing, he maintains a music consultancy, working with leading classical musicians. After the July 2005 London terrorist bombings, he co-founded the culture-based interfaith network, InterAct.

James is thrilled to be making his debut as a playwright with Primary Stages.