Leaves of Grass, Walt Whitman’s humanistic, wheeling manifesto of the American destiny underpins Australian playwright Joanna Murray-Smith’s one-man play, American Song, and the collection of poems form the credo and frame the questioning of its central character, Andy. The poems’ exploration of a world of natural beauty, sensual delight, and the limitless possibilities of a young country imbue his optimistic take on life. With Whitmanesque wonder, Andy shares his tale of early good fortune in winning the trifecta of a gorgeous girl, an adorable baby son, and, after adventures in New York and a period as a caring house-husband looking after infant Robbie, a great job in their home town.

Andy, played with an assured, Springsteen-like masculinity by Joe Petruzzi, is on stage as we enter the theatre, a stocky middle-aged man in a flannel shirt, with an open, honest face and capable hands. He is dressed for labour and the labour, a stretch of dry-stone wall stretching across the stage, is there to behold. (Here, Robert Frost’s 1914 poem ‘Mending Wall’ springs to mind).