Fronterafest:

When most people think of "fringe" theatre, they think of actors dressed as goats beating political figures over the head with sausages or other far-out performance art that will leave them scratching their heads.

FronteraFest is more mundane than that.

Sponsored by Hyde Park Theatre for the past 13 years, in collaboration with Austin Scriptworks, FronteraFest offers both full-length plays and a series of short one-acts. From Jan. 13 to Feb. 11, the stage is open to anyone who has something theatrical to share, whether it is a musical or dance routine, a monologue, a film or a short sketch comedy.

The Short Fringe is a grab bag of 25 minute-long productions. Nearly all will be performed one night only while a panel chooses the best of the week and showcases the top five on Feb. 11.

The Short Fringe is indeed informal and gives the artists and playwrights a chance to run their work-in-progress in front of an audience .

One Wednesday evening started with a shortened version of a play in development about the Pre-Raphaelites and their paintings. "Imagination Penetration" dealt mainly with the painters and their jealousy and love of their muses.

Given that it does leave out a lot of material, it is hard to make sense of why a mysterious hand appears from the canvas or if one of the muses of mid-1800s London is supposed to have a blue Mohawk in a full production.

Other pieces performed that evening, such as "Abstinence Only" are indeed meant to be finished short solo comedic pieces like one might find at Esther's Follies. Shown from the point of view of a completely undersexed Catholic priest (Michael Hankin) trying to explain to burgeoning youth what sex is, Hankin battles his demons in an over-the-top performance.

The Long Fringe portion of the festival, mostly staged at the Blue Theatre, consists of productions that don't necessarily contain elaborate sets, but are definitely more ambitious in subject matter.

On Jan. 20, Capital Theatre updated Christopher Marlowe's "Edward II" and set it in the modern age complete with text messaging and leather-wearing street thugs with guns. This play, written by a forerunner and contemporary of Shakespeare, has a dialogue and subject matter familiar to anyone who has ever read "Macbeth" or any of Shakespeare's historical tragedies about European royalty.

Despite the cell phones, the transformation of nobles into sniveling bureaucrats in suits, and an added dance number based on Rufus Wainwright's "Oh What a World," the main thrust is not necessarily to bridge the centuries.

Music and pantomimed interludes served to make more explicit what Marlowe only said in a round-about manner: when Edward II said that he loved Gaveston, he meant that he REALLY loved Gaveston, as in enough to seek vengeance for his death.

Though entertaining, "Edward II" has its drawbacks, such as making Queen Isabella (Blanca Gomes) seem incredibly clueless as to why her husband ignores her and prefers the company of the attractive young boy-toy Gaveston (Sal Garcia). Gomes' wardrobe makes her look like a 1950s prom queen, and Garcia gives a rather broad performance that goes from spoiled brat to begging for his life in a very harrowing manner. Then the tides turn and King Edward himself ends up defrocked, and it becomes the Queen's story of a scorned woman.

Although most of the modern touches weren't really necessary, the production had many strong performances and gave audiences a chance to see a Renaissance classic that usually gets shoved aside for the obviously better known Shakespeare.