LAM GHOOI KET Story originator. Playwright. Director. Drama Coach
Ket left the advertising and communications world in pursuit of a life in the arts at The Temple of Fine Arts, and there, with the guidance of its founder Swami Shantanand Saraswathi, immersed himself in music, dance and drama, actively involved with dance choreographers, musicians and technical crew for their productions.
1994 – 2014 at The Temple of Fine Arts, he was the main writer for their major dance drama productions, most staged internationally in Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, India and Sri Lanka. Original works were Odissi Odyssey, Taj Mahal, Buddham Sharanam Gacchami, Sundera Keralam, Butterfly Lovers. He created the main role of Emperor Ashoka in Buddham Sharanam Gacchami and toured the production in Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Singapore, Perth, Chennai, and Colombo.
Adapted works include Ramayana – An Asian Confluence, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Shakuntala.
He taught drama and theatre and created the group Panchatantra Ensemble Theatre to explore both Shakespeare and Indian literature in English.
With this group, he directed and presented Merchant of Venice; wrote, directed and presented Journeys to the Buddha – three original monologues; The Crow, The Mole & The Tortoise – a play devised from stories from Vishnu Sharma’s Panchatantra – which was invited to be performed at The Esplanade, Singapore; Kadhalin Shakti – a cheeky look at the power of love; and Qismat – stories from the Arabian Nights – in which actors took on multiple roles as dancers, musicians, sound effects crew and stage hands, all in full view of the audience.
He directed Chalo Shaadi Karenge or Let’s Get Married, locating Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew in a fantasized Mumbai.
2015 – 2017 with Geethashankarandance, he collaborated with five female theatre students to create the work Ainthu Pengal, or Five Women, in which their life experiences informed the outcome of the play. He also wrote, directed and produced The Crimson Curtain – a monodrama of a 19th century Indian temple dancer – featuring Odissi danseuse Sandhya Manoj, now a film actress in Malayalam films. He also played several roles in Malaysian renowned playwright Kee Thuan Chye’s Swordfish and Concubine staged in KLPac.
2020 – 2022 During the Covid 19 pandemic, Ket conducted online workshops for both young and mature literature lovers. He shared a unique approach to analysing and appreciating poetry and plays of Shakespeare, the Romantics, Indian poets writing or translated in English, the Indian classics like the Ramayana and Mahabharata, and even 9th century Tamil poet Manickavasagar’s Thiruvasagam.
