Naylor’s Cove in Bray to host unique outdoor performance

Naylor’s Cove at Bray Seafront is the venue for a unique series of outdoor performances.

Lisa Freeman’s new scripted performance work features actors, a saxophone player and a significant location: the once-busy sea bathing pool at Naylor’s Cove, Bray.

‘Slipped, Fell and Smacked My Face off The Dance Floor’ will be performed over four days at Naylor’s Cove, a former outdoor swimming spot.

Drawing on the town’s history as a site of leisure and respite, this work positions the human body in this now-defunct site of relaxation.

The actors create intimate moments of dialogue in this public space, where the script touches on ideas of therapeutic infrastructures, tourism and the body as an archive.

These moments are woven through this site of failed architecture, set to a live musical score performed by a saxophone player.

This project stems from Freeman’s research into sites of failed and poorly designed civic architecture, and how these sites can negatively impact our health, identity and leisure pursuits.

“I’m interested in the work travelling through different moments in time, bringing bodily felt experiences from other times into the present,” she said.

“My research across memory, politics and place is often informed and driven by experiences, feelings and emotions relating to the body. In my performances, I work with multiple actors and musicians to deliver site-responsive dialogue, choreography and sounds. My scripts often allude to inner sensory change and provoke questions about wider issues of change across natural and built environments.”

There will be performances on Friday, June 10, Saturday, June 11, Friday, June 17 and Saturday, June 18. 

Naylor’s Cove is located on the south side of Bray Promenade at Bray Head, and access is via the Cliff Walk towards Greystones. 

The live site-specific performance will be on a loop from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.

The event is free and all are welcome to attend.