EDFRINGE REVIEW: Müller's Tales of Wonder (Tim Honnef)

Müller’s Tales of Wonder - ★★★☆☆ – Wistful 

Tim Honnef/Jonas Müller
31 Jul-23 Aug
Review by Rebecca Mahar
 
Tim Honnef returns to the Fringe with Müller’s Tales of Wonder, exploring writing, wonder, grief, and hope, in what promises to be “the last show by Müller”.
 
Seated behind a small desk with a rack of book and other objects to one side, some scattered about the floor, and a binder spread before him, Honnef opens with a tale of a small village losing its bus service, and the old man who depended upon it but couldn’t read, resulting in his throwing the notice into “a special fuck it cabinet” and wondering why the bus never came. 

Promotional image.
 
It's a whimsical little story, read from a small, hardbound book entitled The Bus, which Honnef juggles, handheld microphone making the task difficult, to show his audience its simple illustrations. Once this story is finished, however, it becomes clear that there is more at play here than amusing stories: as Honnef continues through the next story, and the next, he weaves into his tales the story of Mia, his best friend, and how she always encouraged him and his writing of plays.
 
Mia’s story —Mia Müller, from whom Jonas takes his name— becomes the important one, and how her loss, her memory, her tales of wonder inspired Honnef. From boxes full of stories (“a story isn’t a good story if it doesn’t come out of a box”) to an iPod shuffle with Mia’s final words, to the assertion that he doesn’t know why he’s telling us this other than that he wrote it in the script, Honnef works through a wistful, self-depracating, regretful, hopeful journey of reflection.

Tim Honnef in Müller's Tales of Wonder.

As a drama, it can be a little scattered, and could do with getting rid of the handheld microphone in an intimate space such as the Front Room where in the moments Honnef speaks without it, he’s perfectly audible. But as a sharing of a little slice of humanity, and the wonder that is all around if we choose to look, Honnef’s simplicity and eventual drawing together of threads is hard to beat.
 
Running time: One hour with no interval
Venue: Assembly Rooms (Front Room), 54 George St EH2 2LR
31 July-23 August 2025
Time: 12:40pm
Tickets: https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/muller-s-tales-of-wonder

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