Cops and Robbers

Performance

Created by Manolis Saridakis, Medie Megas and dancers

Onassis Stegi, February 12-13, in the context of the Europe Beyond Access program.

Phases of work:

1st phase: Research

September – December 2025 | funded by the Greek Ministry of Culture / Creative Greece program.

2nd phase: Rehearsal period

May – June 2026 | funded by Europe Beyond Access program and Onassis Stegi

3rd phase: Residency at Zamek Cultural Center, Poznan, Poland

September 21-26 | funded by Europe Beyond Access program

4th phase: Rehearsal period (continuation of phase 2)

November – February | funded by EBA and OS

Cops & Robbers performance:

Cops & Robbers is a work conceived by Manolis Saridakis, a choreographer with a learning disability and autism. The performance has been created in collaboration with his colleague, choreographer and dramaturge Medie Megas, and the rest of the creative team.

In times when unsupervised play in public spaces has become increasingly rare, when children are in front of screens instead playing with balls, running and hiding, when parents in a continual state of worry about their children’s safety, Cops & Robbers serves as a manifesto for free play. Saridakis reclaims his right to play Thieves and Cops — to revisit this game thirty years after he played it with his sister in the streets of the neighbourhood where he grew up.

This time, however, he will play it on equal terms.

For the mixed group of dancers to participate equitably, it was necessary to create a play environment that could accommodate the physical, learning, sensory and age-related differences of all the performers and to remove barriers to participation one by one. In this way, the process of playing becomes a living example of the social model of disability.

The performance is also a form of archaeological excavation, seeking to bring to the surface the memories, anxieties and emotions surrounding this particular game — those of Saridakis, as well as those of all the collaborators. The archetypal figures of the Thief (as an outlaw and trickster) and the Policeman (as a representative of order, law and authority) evoke feelings of identification and rejection. Through engaging with the game, traditional binaries begin to dissolve: good and evil, right and wrong, play and reality.

Throughout the performance, we watch the dancers prepare for the game and rewrite its rules. Towards the end, as often happens when children play outdoors in their neighbourhoods, the rules of the game begin to fade. Performers and audience members find themselves in a liminal space between play, performance and reality, experiencing the mixture of joy, freedom and seriousness that defines what it truly means to be playful.

More information on the residency in Poland:

The residency in Poznan brought five members of the creative team from Greece (4 out of six performers and musician) together with local artists from the Klucz Theatre and Dance Company. Two of the local artists were integrated into the final performance.

The week of intensive research focused on how this integration could take place artistically and practically, while continuing to develop the material of the performance. The residency also provided an opportunity to explore questions of audience participation and accessibility, and to consider how these elements can be integral parts of the work rather than simply additions to it.

More information on the 1st research phase:

The first phase of our choreographic research workshop has been completed! This phase is part of a longer process that will ultimately lead to the production of a performance entitled Cops and Robbers, based on the well-known children’s game of the same name.

Along with Saridakis and Megas, four additional dancers, a musician, a researcher/pedagogue, and a videographer participated in the three-month research workshop. In addition to our internal research, we organized two presentations of the work: one for members of the European program SEED and one open to the public. We also offered two workshops—one for children aged 9–11 at Trianemi Primary School and one for dancers.

Saridakis, the first learning disabled and autistic choreographer in Greece, and Medie Megas, choreographer, dramaturge and dancer, have collaborated for many years in a very special creative partnership, the first fruit of which was the performance “Do Robots have emotions?”, which was produced by the Onassis Cultural Center and has since traveled to festivals and venues in Athens, Syros, Serbia and Cyprus.

In this partnership Saridakis always brings the idea and the title of the piece and then the two of them, in collaboration with the rest of the creative team, conduct the research and gradually construct the performance. Medie Megas facilitates the research and rehearsal process and oversees the dramaturgy of the work.

Note by Manolis Saridakis “I am interested in the ‘Cops and Robbers’ game for two reasons: first because my sister and I used to play it when we were children and secondly because when I watch television and I see robbers and policemen on the news , I feel afraid.”

Note by Medie Megas “Saridakis’s new idea is closely linked to his personal experience of playing ‘Cops and Robbers’ as a child with his sister and other children outside, in the streets of his neighbourhood. As in “Do Robots Have Emotions?” his personal experience collides with the emotions caused by the complex world that surrounds him. Increasing violence and aggression in public and private spaces and the inescapable reality of wars in Europe and the Middle East, cause emotions in Manolis which he comes to manage through the classic game “Cops and Robbers”. In the end, it is Saridakis’s need to connect with other people through play and the joy sparked by the game, which prevail.

The first phase of this work has been funded by the Greek Ministry of Culture Creative Greece 2025 program in the category of “Funding for actions and programs that promote full accessibility to disabled people in 2025”.

CREDITS

Concept: Manolis Saridakis

Choreographic research: Medie Megas and Manolis Saridakis in collaboration with the dancers

Dancers: Irini Kourouvani, Isimini Slijper, Olympia Antonena, Christos Christakopoulos, Manolis Saridakis, Medie Mega

Observer / writer: Maria Papadopoulou

Sound / music: Chrysanthos Christodoulou

Video / photo documentation: Gkikas Melachrinos

Production: Onassis Stegi

Executive production: Liminal / Shared Productions

Funding: Europe Beyond Access, Onassis Stegi