The bells strapped around Gavin Skinner's thighs jingle merrily as he walks up to the statue of Isambard Kingdom Brunel at Temple Quay.

"That's the man himself," he says chirpily, as he puts on the long coat of rag strips that give the Rag Morris troupe its name.

Passing solicitors on their lunch breaks double-take as they realise a group of Morris dancers are forming outside their offices. But after 18 years of Morrising, Gavin remains oblivious to the idea of standing out in a crowd.

"I wonder what he would make of all this," he adds with a chuckle, as Brunel frowns down at the forming group from beneath his trademark top hat.

The troupe, which is based at Bristol University, is putting on a Mummers play devoted to the life of the great engineer, in order to mark the 150th anniversary of his untimely death next month.

The play, which has been penned by Gavin for the occasion, will take place at suitably Brunelian locations across the city, and will coincide with Doors Open Day, when members of the public can visit historical buildings that are often inaccessible.

"I first had the idea of doing a Mummers play about Brunel a couple of years ago, when I saw an exhibition at the ss Great Britain called the Nine Lives of Brunel.

"It looked at the nine times he had a close scrape with death as a result of his innovative engineering projects. I thought this was a brilliant subject for a Mummers play, and as a society we have a good tradition of writing new plays about the city's own folklore – though they're few and far between.

"We normally just focus on the Morris dancing. The last one we did was back in 1993 – that told the story of Vincent and Goram, the two giants who are supposed to have carved out the Avon Gorge in ancient times.

"I thought it was about time we did something with a more up-to-date theme, and Brunel seemed an ideal hero."

Mummers plays have their origins in British folk tradition, with the first recorded one in Bristol taking place in the 1770s.

"They're always comedies, told in rhyming couplets, and there is always a theme of good fighting evil.The hero and Beelzebub battle it out until they're both completely destroyed, then there's always a doctor figure who comes in at the end to put them back together.

"It may all sound very strange," he says with a grin. "But that's because it is all very strange."

Gavin, whose day job sees him work as a designer – creating new exhibits for Explore@Bristol – wrote the play with Brunel as the central hero.

"Then, instead of having the traditional Beelzebub, we have Brunelzeebub – Brunel's inner demon, with whom he constantly battles as he tries to achieve his many outlandish engineering projects.

"I've also kept in many of the basic traditions of Mummers plays – such as the announcement of 'in comes I' whenever anyone steps on to the stage. It is also traditional for the group to tour around, performing the Mummers play at different outdoor locations to different audiences, so we decided to stick to that by visiting some of Brunel's most famous landmarks in the city."

The first 30-minute performance will take place at Sion Hill lookout, near Brunel's iconic Clifton Suspension Bridge at 2pm on Saturday, September 12.

The group will then move to the Underfall Yard on Cumberland Road for another performance at 11.30am.

In the afternoon, the group will perform at the ss Great Britain at 1.30pm, and at Queen Square (where Brunel is reputed to have witnessed the Bristol Riots) at 2.30pm.

The final performance of the day will take place at the Temple Meads Passenger Shed – Brunel's original station, at 3.30pm.

"We will also be performing at Explore@Bristol at 7pm on Wednesday, September 15, to mark the actual 150th anniversary of Brunel's untimely death at the age of 53," Gavin says.

"That will be followed by a discussion about the age when engineers were heroes.

"I don't know what Brunel himself would have made of the whole thing, but it's our way of paying tribute to this great man who gave so much the city."

● The performances are free.