SNOUT: A Rock Opera for People Who Hate Musical Theatre
One of the most interesting shows taking place at this year’s Adelaide Fringe is SNOUT: The Rock Opera, a sci-fi production about cyberpunk pigs rebelling against the man. The Note got the chance to chat with Malcolm Sutton, the local creator behind the production, about the inspiration behind his new show, working in London’s West End and the issues with Australia’s art scene.
Words Emily Wilson // Image supplied
A rock opera centring on blue, revolutionary cyberpunk pigs is arguably not the fodder of a standard Adelaide Fringe Show. But Malcolm Sutton doesn’t tend to deal in the standard.
The Renaissance man - journalist, author of Twitchers, songwriter and veteran of the West End backstage - is harnessing his sprawling talents to put on SNOUT: The Rock Opera, set to be performed over six nights at Gluttony during the 2026 Adelaide Fringe.
Over the phone, Sutton discusses working as a journalist years ago near Murray Bridge. He recalls the affecting experience of covering a huge live truck crash - and how it might have, circuitously, led to SNOUT: The Rock Opera.
He describes in detail a semi-trailer loaded up with live pigs. “It had rolled over, and all these pigs were running around free, but a lot of them were very, very injured. It was quite a horrendous sight, very visceral.”
The RSPCA eventually intervened; pigs were put down on the spot.
“It was gruesome,” he sighs. “There was this one younger pig who trotted up to me and looked up to me, as if to say, ‘What are you going to do about this? Can you help?’ So, if there was one true pig inspiration, it must have been that little surviving pig who looked up at me with those little expression-filled pig eyes.”
The seed of the project began in 2011, with an experimental Adelaide Fringe play called simply SNOUT. Now, his vision has expanded to new heights. Composed over nearly five years and performed by ten Adelaide musicians, the rock opera, set in space, follows a band of pigs who reject their destiny as soldiers to unleash a musical revolution. Its creation has been a rewarding but uniquely difficult journey.
“It is a lot of work, because getting the sound of music out of your head, notated out for musicians to be able to play, it’s a massive process. It’s very exhausting. It can drive people crazy,” he says. “I get little melodies in my head all the time, particularly in the mornings. Sometimes I’ll hear an entire orchestra in my brain. The chemicals in my brain fire in a certain way that they’re just constantly creating rhythms and music. All the time. It’s relentless.”
He adds, “Years ago, when I realised this process of putting on a show was going to take a really long time and I would probably need a day job in the meantime, I kind of just thought, what can I do that I don’t hate doing?” Writing was the answer.
He describes writing his debut novel Twitchers, published by Puncher and Wattmann to critical acclaim in 2024, as “a beast of a job.”
For him, the process of creating music, as opposed to creating a book, is far more linear. “And it involves so many people, whereas writing is so solitary. This show is like a living, moving thing that’s taken on its own life.”
When it comes to putting on a show, Sutton learned from the best, having spent years working across London’s West End in his twenties. He worked backstage at Cats for two years, right up until the musical’s closure, and also worked for the Royal Opera House.
“I learned a lot about lighting, and some of those more technical back-stage aspects of theatre, and all about the structure of a good show,” he explains. “That was a really wild time, to be honest. It had this real bohemian atmosphere.”
Laughing, he reveals that he has probably seen Cats live no less than four hundred times. “It’s a pretty polarising show. And believe it or not, I’m not actually a massive fan of musical theatre. It’s too cheesy. I’m more of an alternative-music indie-rock lover.” He describes SNOUT as being “for people who don’t like musical theatre. It’s a genuine rock opera, in the vein of Pink Floyd’s The Wall. It tells a story.”
He reiterates, “I can promise you if you don’t like musical theatre, you’re still going to love this show. But if you do like musical theatre, there’s a lot there for you too.”
As a veteran of both, he compares the arts scenes of London and Adelaide.
“The Adelaide Fringe team is really proactive; they do an excellent job. London itself is a little bit looser. But it’s also bigger. And everyone’s getting paid, for a start. There’s heaps more artistic infrastructure there. More venues. More theatre angels than we have here.”
He zeroes in on what he believes to be one of the main failings of Australia’s art scene: its reliance on government funding. “It’s detrimental to people’s visions,” he says. “Because sometimes if you’re doing something a little edgy, a little different, you’re just not going to get funding. You just have to tick all these boxes. And the government, on any given day, has their own agenda in terms of what shows they want to be giving money to. And if you’re not fitting that mould, regardless of how good your show is, you’re probably going to miss out.”
This, he believes, leads to the creation of mostly safe art, something Sutton describes as the “bane” of his existence.
“Australia is so safe when it comes to art. In the publishing industry, the only publishers that are doing anything really exciting right now are independent. The big ones are just doing the same old crap that will be forgotten after two weeks. It’s a weird little problem Australia has. Even when you look at our sanctioned graffiti - it’s not edgy, it’s not saying anything. But when you go overseas, the street art is really punchy, it makes you look twice.”
SNOUT: The Rock Opera appears to be anything but safe. With a strong anti-war message and innovative vision, the show is shaping up to be topical, political, and fresh.
“The show comments on how we Westerners in our sheltered cities are sitting here talking, affording our opinions on global conflicts, when we actually lack direct experience,” he says. “There’s a big difference between talking about war and suddenly finding yourself in one.”
He is feeling hopeful about how the show will be received by audiences - and about how theatre itself might be primed for a “massive revival.”
Voice piquing with excitement, he explains, “I actually think we’re on the cusp of a new era for theatre, because traditional cinema is being squashed by streaming. And AI can’t do it. You can’t stream it. You need to go see it and be amongst it and be pulled out of your own head and life for however long it lasts.”
SNOUT: The Rock Opera runs from March 17-22 at Gluttony. Tickets on sale at adelaidefringe.com.au.
