Laura Hooper has an interesting premise for And This One’s True. Mamie Rae is a 92-year-old woman who isn’t ready to die. This is despite everyone she has ever loved already being dead including her husband and her children. It is the opposite of the story usually heard about a person who has lost or feels they have lost everyone precious to them at any age. It had the promise of a possibly engrossing narrative.

Unfortunately, Hooper is in love with experimental theater which, when it is done well, can be extraordinary, but when it slips it fails badly. Despite Hooper’s acting skills and attractive personality And This One’s True is a series of misses.

Some of the misses are practical. Why does Mamie begin the show being still on her death bed where she appears, but may or may not be dead? The much more effective opening would be Mamie fully covered by a sheet. Then her defiance of death in the rest of the play is defined as resisting something that has already happened and the audience is in on the dark “joke”. Also, Hooper at times tries to involve the audience in the show. There are none of the standard tropes here, so the immersive elements just don’t work

But more head scratching is the “flexibility” of Mamie’s life. Sometimes she hates her life. Sometimes she resents her children. Sometimes her husband is a minor player. But sometimes all the opposite things are true.

In Mamie’s belief system(s) she moves from Christianity to Spiritualism to Hinduism and back. The movements are unexplained and unquestioned by Mamie. Toward the end of the play death comes to guide her to her future, but death may or may not be her spiritual guide or it may be her guardian. And maybe her guardian is her husband from 3000 years ago who is concerned about her but not very concerned with getting her reunited with the dead husband she seems to be mourning. There doesn’t seem to be any strong desire to reunite with her dead children. Her girls are blond and beautiful, meeting an upper middle class English standard that she certainly was not born into and maybe never lived. It is hard to make sense of Mamie death journey and to determine the accuracy of her memories.

Done as a more linear play And This One’s True could be really fascinating, but in its current state the audience is left as confused as Mamie’s feelings about departing this world.