Sophie Henderson, Workmates Director 21.08.25

I’m one month into my new job at Silo, and my new film Workmates is about to open in cinemas. Theatre and film couldn’t be more different. But for me they’re about the same thing: making art happen - often against the odds.

Workmates is a scrappy love story about falling for someone at work you shouldn’t. It’s funny, it’s romantic, and it’s set in a tiny, broke theatre that runs on love, grit, and half-broken gears. A lot of it is true and comes straight from my life. I ran Tāmaki’s Basement Theatre for five years. I was devoted to the place and the people in it, and it was chaos - bending rules, calling in favours, doing questionable things to keep the lights on. It was the best job I ever had.

It’s hard to make art at the bottom of the world for no money. It’s also hard to love someone you’re not supposed to. But both are addictive. Both make work more fun.

I took the job at Silo because I love theatre. It’s my favourite thing. I believe hard out in the shared experience. And after years of writing movies by myself in my room, this job is the opposite of lonely. Silo is bigger than me as a screenwriter. I get to spend every day with my theatre community, discovering talented people, putting them together, lifting them up, and showing them off on stage.

Theatre is one of the last truly analogue things - it only works if it’s real. You can’t fake it. I love theatre that has a story, that makes you feel something at the same time as a room full of people. Where you lean in together, stop breathing together, cry, laugh, see actors up close doing their very best work. My job is feelings. I am in the business of empathy, togetherness and risk.

I want to live in a country that shows up for art, where artists make something from nothing and audiences believe in something together, pretending in the dark.

People don’t trust theatre because heaps of it’s bad. But sometimes… magic happens. Sometimes, something unimaginably beautiful happens, perfection is achieved - maybe just for 30 seconds - and you were part of it.

And once that magic’s gone, it’s gone. You can’t have it back. That’s what I love the most about theatre. You have to be there.

At Silo, and in Workmates, it’s not just the art that matters - it’s the people you make it for.

If people don’t go to the theatre, theatre dies. If people stop going to the cinema, films won’t play in cinemas anymore. It’s that simple. And that fragile. For theatre to survive, it has to face its audience, listen to its audience, and hold onto them. Offer something they can’t get anywhere else. Be attention-seeking. Make it unforgettable. Give joy.

Theatre, cinema, love - they’re all built on the same gamble: you show up, not knowing how it’ll go or how it will end. The best romances - on stage, on screen, at work - are about risk. And I reckon the magic happens in the spaces in between: between two actors, between audience and performer, between two people trying not to admit they’re into each other. Whether it’s on stage, in a cinema, or two desks down, those moments are rare. And worth protecting.

Just tell him you like him. Do it for the plot.

My first Silo programme begins in 2026. I hope you can come. And before that, come see Workmates. It’s about falling in love - with a person, with a place, and with the feeling that you had to be there. I hope the film breaks your heart and then gaffer tapes it back together.

Bring your workmates. Especially your silly little work crush.

Sophie Henderson, Artist Director of Auckland's Silo Theatre, is the writer and star of Workmates, in cinemas August 21st.