For much of the 20th and 21st century (to date), the opportunity to go back in time and undo the mistakes of one’s life has been a favourite topic of stage and screen. With such a concept, there tonally lies a myriad of possibilities – from a deadly earnest approach to an out-and-out comedy, and everything in between. Then there’s Make It Count… Written by James Sweeney and directed by John Hewer, Make It Count is (at least initially) a light-hearted examination of the fickleness of human nature and its tendency to renege on resolutions to change once the worst is over. At the centre of the play is Jonas (Brayden Kerr) and Lily (Laura Thompson) – a married couple in their forties, who have been together 16 years.

Unfortunately for Jonas, Noah (Derek Hodges) – the Grim Reaper’s husband and proxy on this occasion – has made an error and ‘taken’ Jonas to the afterlife by mistake, instead of an elderly man living in a nearby street. Unable to send Jonas back to the here-and-now, Noah dispatches Jonas back to the beginning of his relationship with Lily 16 years before. Jonas is instructed that the marriage shouldn’t have any major deviations from the original history and that he should be in the same bed/room on the date when he ‘died’ in the original timeline. Of course, much like Adam and Eve in the fabled Garden of Eden, Jonas (and later on Lily) ignores Noah’s warnings and have to deal with consequences…

This isn’t to say that the main characters in Sweeney’s play face judgement ‘by a higher authority’. Rather, there is a ‘butterfly effect’, where seemingly innocuous and unrelated choices cascade into disaster down the line. Jonas’ philosophy is straightforward: to keep the ‘bumps in the road’ to a minimum and avoid aggro ‘from without and within’. Instead of abiding with the rigmarole of working long hours as a solicitor and chasing promotions etc., Jonas opts for a sedentary existence as private stockbroker. Unfortunately for him, he has little success in this avenue, which compounds the financial and emotional stress on the marriage.

While Jonas’ decision to not allow Lily’s sister to stay in their home for a few months may seem ‘petty’ and ‘selfish’ (without describing the ‘real’ reason here), Jonas’ reluctance to go to China with Lily stems from knowing it was a ‘disaster’ the first time around. Asides from contracting food poisoning as soon as she arrived there, Lily saw things that traumatised her, so he wants to spare her that this time around. Unfortunately, Lily in the play is a very headstrong person, who often jumps to the wrong conclusion, and thinks Jonas is ‘oppressive’ – the ‘worst person ever’. Seeing how badly things have gone, Noah offers Lily the same deal. But instead of making misguided (but good intentioned) decision like Jonas, the magnitude of Lily’s deliberate actions lead to ‘next level’ ramifications…

The second act is played for laughs and Hodges’ Noah with his droll delivery elicits our laughter (and sympathy!), as he has much success getting Lilly and Jonas to behave responsibly as he would herding cats. But as Lily’s actions become more extreme, there is a marked similarity between Lily  and misandrist women on TikTok and social media who feel entitled and try to justify their ‘Karen’ behaviour. Because Thompson’s Lily eerily mirrors such a truthful reflection of what is happening in today’s world, this verisimilitude – plus Lilly and Jonas never had children to stay together for – belies the fact that in ‘real life’, they would have ’emotionally checked out’ long ago and divorced. And while the play belatedly reveals to Lily that Jonas was the person responsible for funding her dream job – an online shop for dreamcatchers – Jonas’ actions are treated with contempt.  Neither does the play show Lily finding out about Jonas’ motive for not taking her to China. Not that every little detail in the play should be accounted for, but in theory, it would have been more satisfying for the audience to see/hear how Lily would react to this revelation. Perhaps though, Sweeney thought this would be the same reaction as Lily finding out Jonas was the only person supporting her creative venture.

If this seems overly critical, it’s just that the second act ‘crossed the Rubicon’ by entwining ‘mirth’ with emotional grist, so it’s almost impossible not to evaluate the second half more seriously. But by taking Oscar Wilde’s quote to heart – “If you want to tell people the truth, make them laugh, otherwise they’ll kill you.” – Sweeney has been able to address the lack of accountability in relationships and highlight uncomfortable truths that are often skirted around.

© Michael Davis 2026

Make It Count ran at Louth Riverhead Theatre on 18th to 20th June.