Show reviewed: 18/03/26

Show rated: A oinking 2 stars.

Show reviewed: 18/03/26

Show rated: A oinking 2. stars.

Update: I was contacted by the producer Malcolm Sutton who threatened to have my review pulled from the Adelaide Fringe website based on the fact I have said I would not change the fact the show has been under development for 5 years since the musical composition began then. So that yes, I will note the other elements of this show are more recent like lyrics, animation and the show itself have have only been in production for about four months. this is one of two corrections I will make. The second is that since this show was completely underwhelming unprepared for performance, rated relative to the other shows I saw, I have given it a 2 star rating. You should not threaten a reviewer for an honest review, Malcolm.

Sometimes my job as a reviewer is a relatively simple gig and I can articulate what I’ve just watched with ease. And then there is peak fringe festival weirdness and I have to explain the concept of the sixtieth show I’ve seen this festival as “I just watched a punk space opera with blue mutant pigs on the run from some evil humans.” That show is SNOUT: The Rock Opera.

I have truly mixed feelings on this one and have had to resort to my critical analysis skill set and a close reading of what I’ve seen. I prefer to play matchmaker with audiences pairing them to shows they will like but I gotta say that this one has me stumped. It needs more work creatively and rehearsal to address the numerous production problems I mention it below.

SNOUT: The Rock Opera the musical composition has been in development over five years by the Box City Theatre but this is a new show case performance and according to the press release, the narrative of the rock opera is that well out into the distant future, set in the space age, where genetically engineered pigs are created to be super soldiers in a human war with multiple factions and they reject this destiny by way of leading a musical revolution. I would not have known that had I not read the press release and here is when the problems with this show began for me. I could not actually follow the narrative beyond the projected story cues for many reasons as we’ll see below. 

While conceptually there many elements to individually appreciate in SNOUT: The Rock Opera, there is also a time to admit in a creative endeavour that you’ve lost the forest for the trees. There is just so much going on in this show that it’s an overwhelming experience watching this performance for the full hour and I can sense how the cohesiveness of the artistry overall has been lost to those creative elements, as mostly good as they individually are.

Conceptually, I absolutely love the idea of mutant pigs in space resisting human justifications for a war that they as a species have no actual skin in for participating in it. This itself a very punk social commentary on participation in armed conflicts and entirely relevant given what’s happening around the globe at the moment. Art as a site of cultural resistance and a place for social justice is a very punk theme; I love the cyber punk aesthetic of this show and I will take a minute here to applaud the costumes and look of the cast here, everyone in this production looked as incredible as it sounded.

As mentioned earlier, easily the best part of SNOUT is the music; the rock opera’s score is very very reminiscent of Red Hot Chili Peppers’ sound in their Californication era. Individually each musician in this orchestra is a master of their instrument from the choir of classically trained singers to the band and overall they mesh well together in every song. I have no complaints with the composition but the orchestration needs improvement in the most basic of ways. You couldn’t hear the lyrics at the expense of loudness of the band and from this one simple thing most of the what I’m about to critique can be mitigated if not avoided from throwing the whole thing into the chaotic mess I experienced as an audience member! This is a sound engineering lesson 101 that they need to work out with the sound technician ASAP. I was in the front row, so at the very least I should have been able to hear the lyrics of the lead vocalists in their songs and because I couldn’t, so I lost the plot literally. Other crowd members commented on this post show as well.

This is a multimedia production with a visual element that is projected on to a silver screen and I found that rather than clarifying what was happening in the storyline, the disjointed visual cues between the graphic design and what the story exposition cues stated were happening, added yet another layer of confusion. They did not mesh with the overall narrative of the rock opera. I will not comment on the graphic design itself because I cannot draw a stickman to save my life, but it could have been better integrated into the opera, because if you’re going to tell a story, tell a damn story.

Sometimes the imagery was psychedelic wall paper accompanying prog rock songs I couldn’t understand; sometimes it was meant to be a flashback of an event that was critical to the story but lacked clear context of why this was crucial that I see it; sometimes, it was used for exposition with text; and, in at least one song, Piggy Stardust was using her “powers” to do *something* during a presumably human invasion of the ship that she and the other blue space pigs are fleeing in, but I have no idea what that scene was depicting. There was a lot of me thinking, okay I’ll just see where this goes and hope the story becomes clearer. It did not.

The science fiction narrative is really hard to follow and I think there needs to be a stronger introduction who is who of the three main piggy characters Jax, Pax and Piggy Stardust. And when it comes to most of this space opera, the story is inconsistent in its arc, the narrative pacing is erratic and more context is needed to be provided in what made each of these main characters as interesting individuals that we should empathise with and where they were situated in the already confusing story. I know I was supposed to root for the rebels and their getaway but yeah I was not emotionally invested in any of the main characters because I had no way to relate to their inner life through the stories I presume are told in the song lyrics.

For example, I know Piggy Stardust has some sort of (possibly) psychic powers but I can’t tell what they are and what she’s capable of. Likewise I can’t tell of the two male leads (which is Jax or Pax? I do not know!) And why there is a song about a blue pig is surfing on Earth, what is the rationale that I need to know about a blue surfing space pig, logically it doesn’t even make sense considering he is meant to be on the run from warring human factions but blue skin is fairly uncommon as is a talking, emoting, surfing pig! How does this even work given they are supposed to be pets but are clearly sentient enough to rebel?

This show doesn’t work for me…yet.