Letters to the End of the World

Africa is more an idea than a place in Anton Dudley’s thoughtful if overwrought drama about a gay New York grad student (Charles Socarides), who moves to Africa to escape his overprivileged life. The action alternates between scenes in Manhattan and Zambia, the latter of which are more absorbing. There are brave inquiries into love and loss, but a lighter touch is needed to bring out the complexities and contradictions of this emotional (and geographical) terrain.—Pamela Newton