In 2005 Phil Smith opened its pages in the underground stacks of a library, looking for material on acorns. What he found was not a natural history, but an account of an eccentric journey made by Hurst – a walking adventure from Manchester deep into the Midlands, planting acorns as he went. Hurst was on a mission: to maintain a small part of the natural environment in the face of the ravages of heavy industry. But there was a little bit more to it than that, for Hurst could not help but dramatise his walk as a quest for the good and bad in England.

In 2007, Phil Smith, a playwright as well as someone who leads unusual walks and tours all over the world, will re-trace Hurst’s route. He will be looking for Hurst’s oaks, the scenes of his various adventures and setbacks, and for the bones of Pontiflunk, Hurst’s canine companion, whose death beneath the wheels of a car ended his quest.

From his own experiences on the road, and what similarities with or differences from Hurst he finds, Phil Smith will create a one-person show, 80 minutes in duration.  A show about oak trees, but also about England, about time and change, about walking and cars, about property and landscape, about attitudes and relationships to the natural world and to each other.  In Search of Pontiflunk is about a search for how things are today through the binocular lenses of the past and the future.

When Charles Hurst planted his acorns, he had to think of the future: was he choosing a place safe for a sapling in a few years, safe for a mature tree in hundreds of years? Phil Smith will be taking acorns with him and thinking of how the near and distant futures might change the places he plants with acorns. He will be walking with companions: with nostalgia, with Hurst’s keen eye for injustice and with a hope for the future.

To join Phil Smith on his walk call New Perspectives on 0115 927 2334 or check this website in mid-March when Phil's itinerary has been finalised.

Posted 19.2.07