Zatanna, Queen of Illusion. Fringe World Festival

The French-born magician, who performs under the stage name Zatanna, Queen of Illusion, will put on two shows during the month-long festival starting in January.

Zatanna, Magic from Z to A is a show full of illusions, costumes, dance and humour.

“Imagine a small-scale David Copperfield show, but by a female,” Marinai said.

Her second show, Zatanna’s Theatre of the Mind, is kind of “like a Derren Brown show involving mentalism, feats of mind and close up magic”.

“Fringe World in general brings Perth alive for a full month and there are so many great shows to see and a great atmosphere,” she said.

Marinai, a transgender woman who performed as Jean-Luc, The Cool Conjurer, until about 18 months ago, said her aim was to make the shows human.

“You need to like the performer to enjoy their magic,” she said.

“Of course the magic still needs to be good, but being likeable is most important.

“I see so many magicians out there with an excellent technique but who have never taken a drama class, have no idea about presentation and watching them is boring.”

Marinai said her six years as a screen and theatre actor helped her up the ante when it came to story-telling and the presentation of her shows.

“The reason why I love magic is the way it deals with the unreal, with the impossible and the reaction of the audience, their smiles, the amazement in their eyes, and sometimes tears when you perform something very emotional,” she said.

“It is all about emotions and it’s great to make people forget their problems.”

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