Zatanna’s Theatre of the Mind | The Hellenic Club of WA | Feb 6, 18,19,20 | ★ ★ ★ ★
I have always had some scepticism regarding the art of mentalism and fortune telling; I personally thought it was down to reading micro facial expressions, combined with a lucky guess.
So when I was given the opportunity to review the popular Perth based, mental telepathist, Zatanna I was unsure of what to expect from her particular show.
Zatanna certainly delivered an engaging performance throughout her 2016 Fringe World show, ‘Zatanna’s Theater ‘Theatre of the Mind’.
The show was based in a private room within the Hellenic Center, this made for an intimate setting. Zatanna started things off with a quote from Picasso “everything you can imagine is real”.
The show featured numerous performances, which included revealing details about audience members, from lucky numbers to parents’ names, all through the act of mentalism (sensing individual’s thoughts). She even levitated a table, which even I must admit was impressive!
I did find some aspects of the performance leaned more towards party tricks than actually reading minds; such as, unlocking my friends I phone without knowing the code, and involving me in a card trick, that ultimately lead to Zatanna uncovering my card (King of Spades) at random, from a repeatedly shuffled deck.
Zatanna certainly knows how to work a room; each act involved a different member of the audience, which made it seem as though she was performing directly to each individual in the room. This added an element of exclusivity, and gave each audience member a sense of involvement.
Overall I found that ‘Zatanna’s Theatre of the Mind’ makes for a very entertaining evening; however, I was not astounded by the entirety of the show, since I have seen similar routines performed by various other street performers claiming the art of mentalism.
I rate this show a 4/5, because it’s engaging and gets everyone involved, also Zatanna’s charisma alone, would be enough to keep anyone entertained.
Matthew Spence
