Review: Managed Approach (Riverside Studios )

Review by Isabel Benson 

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Arriving at Riverside Studios fresh from a five-star, sold-out Edinburgh Fringe run, Managed Approach brings with it the true story of the UK’s first legalised Red Light District in Holbeck, Leeds. A subject unfamiliar to many, the production explores the controversial local government initiative that, between 2014 and 2020, permitted sex workers to legally operate within a designated zone under what became known as the ‘Managed Approach’. It is a premise that immediately provokes moral and political tension, and writer-performer Jules Coyle uses this real-life framework to explore the internal and domestic consequences of public policy. Through the central relationship between mother and daughter, the play examines not only the division within the Holbeck community but also the emotional fallout that lingers behind closed doors.

The ‘Managed Approach’ was introduced with the intention of protecting vulnerable sex workers, creating a safer and more regulated environment in which they could work. However, while it sought to reduce harm, it did not manage to fully alleviate the impact on the wider community, nor did it convincingly improve safety for those it was designed to protect. Residents, predominantly older, as hinted at by the character of Kathleen in Coyle’s play, remained divided with concerns around exploitation ‘to their own’ and violence persisting. Thus, the initiative was later trialled by the Safer Leeds partnership - made up of the city council, police, and health services - and ultimately disbanded.

What makes Managed Approach so compelling is how Coyle avoids reducing this issue to a political debate alone. Instead, she grounds it in the domestic world of Kathleen (played by Eanna Ferguson) and Abbie (played by Jules Coyle herself), using their mother-daughter relationship as an emotional anchor. Alongside this fictional framework, the play incorporates verbatim testimonies from sex worker survivors - Dani, Tara, Sarah and Ellen - allowing the voices of those directly affected to sit at the play’s core. This blend of verbatim truth and fictional intimacy lends the production both intensity and humanity. Áine McNamara and H Sneyd handle these verbatim interview reenactments with great delicacy, their spontaneous entrances from the audience protecting the honesty of these women’s stories as well as our perception of them. I also felt that this softness does well to corroborate Abbie’s later argument in the ‘big row’ with Kathleen about sex workers.

Coyle establishes this central tension almost immediately, later exploding in the ‘big row’. Abbie is on the more liberal side of the debate, wanting to express herself as an on-trend, carefree teenager without the constraints placed on her by concerned Mam Kathleen. Yet, we soon learn how Kathleen’s protectiveness is rooted in fear - both for her daughter’s safety and in her deep discomfort with the normalisation of sex work. Her perspective is shaped by the lasting trauma of her own childhood, having grown up under the shadow of the Yorkshire Ripper, whose presence left an enduring sense of fear and vulnerability. Coyle introduces this dichotomy neatly in an opening scene where Kathleen insists that Abbie puts on tights - a seemingly ordinary maternal request - yet Abbie will not be brought down, as Coyle dazzles in full coming-of-age confidence, getting ready for a night out to Beyoncé with the kind of vibrant, unapologetic energy that feels instantly recognisable. Kathleen’s final suggestion that bare legs might make her look like a prostitute (unsaid but implied) lands sharply, not only exposing the stigma and fear embedded within their environment, but also capturing the ensuing collision between female autonomy and societal prowess at large in this play.

Yet, the repeated tease of the infamous post-eighteenth birthday ‘row’ creates an undercurrent of tension beneath what initially appears to be a warm, functioning, even familiar mother-daughter relationship. The audience is constantly aware that something unresolved sits beneath the surface, and that tension quietly drives the play forward until its eventual emotional release. This interplay between warmth and tension is something Lily Ellis, Director, assisted by Ariana Muñoz, has clearly thought about significantly, and it really works.

So, when the long-foreshadowed ‘big row’ finally arrives, it lands with devastating force, thanks largely to the impeccable performances from Jules Coyle and Eanna Ferguson. Coyle first bursts onto the stage, cutting through the heaviness of the preceding sex worker testimony with infectious, hilarious excitement for Abbie’s eighteenth birthday. Her brief interaction with the audience is delivered with perfectly judged humour - expressive, awkward and utterly charming, with a comic energy reminiscent of Miranda Hart. It is this strength in comedy that makes the darkness that follows hit even harder. Abbie’s drunken walk home through the park, ending with her unconscious and vulnerable, shifts the tone with brutal suddenness. When Kathleen eventually discovers what has happened, Ferguson delivers her reaction with raw burning precision - betrayal, yes, but also by the crushing realisation that all her attempts to protect her daughter have failed. Abbie’s retaliatory accusation of her mother being ‘selfish’ cuts deeply, and Ferguson’s response is even more powerful in its restraint - she retreats into a defeated, almost hollow silence before finally telling Abbie to leave. The stillness between them in that moment is chilling and one of the production’s most affecting scenes. Both actors should be commended for their delivery at this moment.

Coyle and Ferguson are always authentic in their portrayals of mother and daughter. Whilst the monologues are carefully paced with both lighter and darker moments, it is in the scenes shared between Abbie and Kathleen that the production finds its emotional resonance. Coyle and Ferguson make their relationship feel entirely realist - one which we can resonate with from our at-home mother-daughter experience. Coyle writes one of the most touching moments showing Kathleen driving Abbie to school every morning, the pair singing together in the car with a candid freespirit. Although this scene is heartwarming, the subtext provides an emotional impetus with the devastating understanding of why Kathleen was ‘getting up every morning at 7am’ - not simply routine, but protection. That juxtaposition of maternal tenderness and underlying fear is quietly heartbreaking, offering a vivid insight into the psyche of a mother raising a daughter under the shadow of violence against women. Equally effective is the way Ellis directs the mirrored relationship between Kathleen and her own mam, revealing how generational fear is inherited as much as it is learned. Kathleen’s own experience as a daughter, combined with the fear of the Yorkshire Ripper, gives her protectiveness as a mother real emotional grounding, ensuring neither side of the debate around sex work is presented as simplistic or condemnable. Instead, the lasting impression is one of anger - not towards these women - but towards the exhausting reality of the female experience, and the frustration that women are so often forced to adapt themselves to patriarchal violence whilst being left to turn that frustration on each other.

The lighting design by Stan Hunt and sound design by Charlotte Conybeare work seamlessly to heighten the engagement of the play. A carefully chosen soundtrack brings a vivid sense of time to the production. Sound effects are strong, punctuating key moments in the monologues - a highlight being Kathleen’s description of her childhood with her brother David - to ensure the drama feels immersive throughout.

Managed Approach was a great success. Jules Coyle and the company have created a production that is thought-provoking, skilfully acted and politically charged with a deep-rooted truth that celebrates the humanity in theatre. Though its run at Riverside Studios ends on 25th April, this is undoubtedly a show with legs far beyond its current booking. Produced by Open Aire Theatre, a company committed to platforming northern stories inspired by true events, Managed Approach proves they are absolutely one to watch.

Managed Approach plays at Riverside Studios until 25th April. Tickets from https://riversidestudios.co.uk/whats-on/Mk-managed-approach/

Photos by Charlotte Conybeare