Workmates 2025

What is the age cap for a ‘coming of age’ movie? This is a question that circles Workmates, the superb new romantic dramedy from the dynamic creative team of Sophie Henderson and Curtis Vowell, drawing on Henderson’s own experiences in the vibrant, ever-precarious theatre scene. Henderson is Lucy, co-manager of the struggling, structurally unsound Crystal Ballroom (the Basement Theatre, playing itself especially well). Essentially penniless and living in the upstairs of the theatre, she is kept in check by long-term co-manager Tom (Matt Whelan). A gentle, unfulfilled longing bubbles between them, despite Tom being in a committed relationship with Nina (Zoë Robins). Lucy is stuck in a semi-permanent state of arrested development, unable (or unwilling) to make long-term plans for herself. Tom, meanwhile, finds himself slowly drawn away from the theatre, prompting Lucy to go all out to lure him back. The energetic, lively push-pull of the relationship is rendered vividly in the film’s clever scripting, and in the dynamic chemistry of the two leads.  

At the centre of Workmates is Henderson’s exceptional performance – appearing in a feature for the first time since 2017’s Human Traces, her Lucy is a relatable, frustrating, funny and compellingly human mess. Vowell constructs the film’s charming, low-key atmosphere around her, in thrall to the wake Lucy leaves. Along the way, Workmates becomes an essential ode to the invaluable theatres of Tāmaki Makaurau: from the humble Basement, to the cavernous Aotea Centre, to the dormant ruin of the Saint James. What emerges is a coming of age, just a little late, and nestled in the trappings of a romcom – one that is sure to provide pangs of recognition for, and remembrance of, the incalculable value arts communities in Aotearoa foster. — Tom Augustine