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Vietnamese war-baby Dominic Hong Duc Golding was airlifted out of Saigon at the end of the Vietnam War and adopted into an Australian family in Mount Gambier. In 1999, he returned to Vietnam for his own tour of duty.
A co-production by La Mama and Melbourne Workers Theatre, Shrimp is a tour de force theatrical autobiography, taking us to the streets of war-torn Saigon, the wet pastures of Mount Gambier and the varied landscapes of modern Vietnam where Dom returns to find his family.
Reflecting upon his rural upbringing and the chaos of Saigon, the partially-hearing impaired (due to mortar fire) Dom tries to reconcile his battle over footy, fish sauce and finding himself.
"What makes Golding so impressive is that he compels the audience to imagine what it is like to be him... [Shrimp] is frenetic and funny, discomfiting and deeply affecting." - The Age
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Male | Unspecified | under 3 minutes
Starts on page 39
EXTRACT: My last day in the country, my tour is up./ I hang out at the Imperial Palace Museum./ Artefacts./ I came over 'ere confused, well I'm still confused./ I'm wandering from room to room,/ Vietnam's history was on display./ It isn't the story I came for but the story I got./ I knew the orphanage held no truths about me,/ now I know that it wasn't to be./ Am I happy?/ Yes... and no./ I'm not alone in this world./ I know that I'm Vietnamese-Chinese-Australian./ A shared pain./ A shared love.
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