Gods Are Fallen & All Safety Gone – Greyscale Theatre Promotional Film
Filming theatre brings a unique set of challenges and rewards. When I was invited to create the promotional video for Gods Are Fallen And All Safety Gone, directed by Selma Dimitrijevic of Greyscale Theatre, I knew this wasn’t a typical theatre production.
The play features two male actors performing the roles of the mother and daughter, word-for-word as written. This gender shift is not gimmick—it’s central to the experience. By removing the expected female bodies from the stage, Greyscale compels the audience to look beyond gender, focusing instead on the raw emotional terrain of the parent-child dynamic. It’s deeply affecting, sometimes uncomfortable, and always thought-provoking.
Selma’s direction is both minimalist and meticulous. The entire play unfolds in a kitchen—timeless, ordinary, familiar. In that domestic setting, the monumental shifts of adulthood, identity, and emotional disconnection quietly play out. Filming theatre in this kind of setting requires a particular sensitivity: capturing subtle gestures, pauses, and glances that carry the emotional weight of the story. I wanted to honour the play’s intimacy and restraint. That meant subtle camerawork, close-ups that held just a little too long, and a visual rhythm that echoed the tension between the characters.
The narration for the video was also voiced by Selma herself, adding a layer of personal insight into her directorial vision. It was important to let that voice guide the tone of the video—measured, intelligent, and with a touch of wry humour that’s always just under the surface of the work.
The promotional film was crafted to echo the play’s emotional stillness and weight. My aim was not just to show clips, but to capture a feeling—of space, silence, and strained love. Filming theatre in this way becomes more about emotional translation than visual representation.
As with many of the arts-based commissions I take on, this project was a collaboration of trust. Greyscale Theatre allowed me the space to interpret the themes visually, and I worked closely with Selma to ensure the film resonated with her intentions. Whether filming rehearsals, capturing set details, or weaving in narrative, the goal was always to draw the viewer into the psychological space of the play—not just sell tickets. Filming theatre like this is about amplifying the artistic vision, not simply documenting it.
This kind of project sits right at the intersection of creative practice on camera and documenting performance art. It’s not just about visibility—it’s about translation. How do you take the ephemeral, live electricity of theatre and shape it into a short, digital film without losing its soul? That’s the question I asked throughout the process. Theatre is inherently live—charged with breath, energy, and silence that resonates between performers and audience. A camera changes that dynamic. It frames, filters, and fixes something that was meant to pass. My role, then, is not to recreate the stage experience, but to distill its essence—emotionally, atmospherically, rhythmically. The goal is not just to document, but to invite. Invite viewers into a world they didn’t witness, but can still feel. In that way, filming theatre becomes not a record of the performance, but a companion piece—something that deepens the work and opens it up to new audiences in new spaces.
About the Play:
Written and directed by Selma Dimitrijevic, Gods Are Fallen And All Safety Gone has been praised for its radical staging and emotional truth. It strips back theatrical artifice and asks us to examine the personal mythologies we inherit—and the quiet heartbreaks we rarely articulate. Originally developed by Greyscale Theatre, the production has toured widely and earned critical acclaim for its innovation and poignancy.
Find out more about Greyscale Theatre:
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👉 https://alanfentiman.co.uk/vimeo-videos/theatre-films/