Managed Approach

Managed Approachis a semi-verbatim play about the UK’s first legalised red-light district. The play shares its name with a local government initiative that allowed sex workers to operate during designated times in Holbeck, Leeds. 

By following a mother and daughter’s fraught relationship, Managed Approach explores the community’s divided response to this scheme. As a parent and child living in a red-light, they must navigate their newfound responsibilities, both to themselves and each other. 

Transcribed interviews with affected sex workers intersperse this drama. Delivered as verbatim monologues, these testimonies highlight the realities of modern sex work. Jules Coyle (writer, co-lead) conducted these interviews to amplify the most relevant– yet, unfortunately, most marginalised– voices of the Managed Approach. 

Managed Approach has received five-star critical acclaim across its debut and 2025 Edinburgh Fringe run. The play functions as Coyle’s love letter to her hometown and the strong Northern women who live there. 

VARSITY ★★★★★ 'Managed Approach is masterful.' 

THE TAB ★★★★★ ‘Managed Approach is a must-see’ 

FEST MAG ★★★★★ ‘Managed Approach is a moving and original exploration of recent events that places the viewer in the heart of something historic’ 

THE INDIEPENDENT ★★★★ ‘an unforgettable telling of an important part of recent UK policy that deserves a watch by everyone’ 

BINGE FRINGE ★★★★ ‘A thoroughly captivating play [that] informs and entertains in wonderful balance’