Fans of Dolly Alderton flocked to the Arts Centre’s Hamer Hall on Thursday night excited to see the British author, but many left feeling frustrated with the event’s host, podcaster and motivational speaker Hugh van Cuylenburg.
Fans say Alderton, who is touring Australia to discuss her career and her latest book, Good Material, wasn’t made the focus of the show, but that van Cuylenburg dominated the discussion with personal anecdotes and extended tangents.
British author Dolly Alderton (pictured in London in 2022) is touring Australia at present. Credit: NYT
Attendees who spoke to The Age and those posting criticism on social media say people called out “let her speak” and shared collective groans as the interview by van Cuylenburg continued.
Kate Sansone, an Alderton fan who had travelled from Adelaide to attend the show, said she felt van Cuylenburg spoke for 75 per cent of the event.
“Everything she [Alderton] said was, like, amazing, and I feel like she handled it so well, but it was just kind of tainted the experience,” Sansone said.
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“In that first half, people were kind of starting to echo, being like: ‘Ask her a question, ask her a question’, but not really loud.
“[During the] intermission, everyone was talking about it. And then we came back, and then they sat down. And then [ van Cuylenburg] was like, ‘All right, I’m gonna tell you a story’ and the entire room just groaned.”
Another attendee, who spoke anonymously to The Age to freely express their opinion, said: “I’ve never really experienced anything like that in a theatre.