Dane Certificate’s Magic Tricks, Gags & Theatre was founded by Dane Certificate in January 2012 in a location situation immediately behind Sydney Road in Brunswick. Only accessible via a laneway off Cozens St, for years the hidden gem of a theatre has provided Moreland with a unique venue for a wide array of musical and magical performers. The following is a conversation that took place with Dane Certificate inside his theatre midway through 2015.
Update: Dane Certificate’s Magic Tricks, Gags & Theatre closed its doors on December 14, 2016, but Dane continues to perform magic to audiences through his travelling magic show.
How did all this get started?
I was living here because I needed a place to put my props – I’ve got large props and bits and pieces. Then I wanted to build a stage to practice on, so I built the stage opposite to what you see now. And then I thought I’d decorate and put on a show to practice for friends. And then my friends drink alcohol so I thought I’d get a fridge, and then I thought I’d better dress it up a bit. And then it just kept going like that – I went down the rabbit hole and ended up with a liquor licence, changed the whole place of assembly, and went through the council stuff and the liquor licence stuff, started booking acts, and then people started coming to me with music, which I didn’t intend on doing, and then four years later. I had zero money in my pocket, and I don’t know, it just happened.
When you started out, at what point did you realise it was going to be an actual venue where you could have people come in and see you perform?
I remember inviting a few people over for the first time, and the stage was actually really close to the door. And my friend came over to look at the space, and I said to him and his brother that we should move it back so that more people could fit in. And it was this big heavy box of a thing that couldn’t be moved, and I kinda knew that we could move it, and everyone was like ‘nah’, and we actually moved it from one side of the room to back here, and from then doing something impossible, and proving that it is, and people came and had a good time and saw magic. I kept setting the bar up. I create things because it’s my form of expression, and this is just a creation. It wasn’t ever planned to be a money making business, and I wasn’t putting things in place because it’s in fashion or anything, I was just creating a place.
Do you know any other magic theatres in Melbourne?
No.
What were some of the biggest obstacles you found back then?
Well I had a friend of mine Tony helping me. He saw the vision that was taking place and he was nice enough to keep helping me along the way. The usual things. The rent’s overdue and you’ve got wolves at your door. It can get to you, but not if it doesn’t.
How were you making ends meet at the time?
I was working just casual shifts with an advertising company doing posters, so that was helping ends meet. And once the liquor licence got approved I started selling a few drinks at shows. I was doing six shows a night, seven days a week, and that kind of helped when people turned up, but that was to practice. I was approaching different bars around town with my idea, I wanted to bring magic to their venues, to do close-up magic. But no-one was really interested, and then it just drove me to put my energy into this place more.
What would reactions be like?
I guess they hadn’t done it before. A lot of people have to see something be successful before they do it themselves. That’s why you see a lot of generic places around. Which is, I dunno… I wanted to entertain people, and if you see the same thing everywhere it’s not entertainment.
How did you come to be in this place?
Everything I do kind of happens naturally. I was at the job seeking place over there [points towards Sydney Road] just using their printer or something, and then they sent me, to the computer shop to use his printer, and I just said to him ‘do you have a space out the back that you wanted to rent?’ and he said ‘yeah, come back tomorrow’. I came back a year later and I said, ‘you don’t still have that space do you?’, came and looked at it and then moved in.
Were you living in the area before this?
Yeah I was living up by Barkly Square.
How has this area changed over the years since you’ve been running your theatre?
The good thing about this place was that I wanted to create a flower amongst mud. There was nothing really going on, but I knew that in the near future it would eventually become active, because it’s just a block past an entertainment strip and the Edinburgh Castle, and then that way you’ve got The Post Office Hotel and all those places that way. There’s a little warehouse that does live gigs across the road, and there’s the new big restaurant type venue across on Sydney Road in the old bank coming, a few of the shops are opening up with restaurants, I reckon in two years if people keep creating positive things it’ll be a place where people can walk around, get an ice cream and do something interesting.
What are your plans for the next evolution?
I’ve started travelling, doing magic shows around Australia, so I think four years is enough. I’ll either keep it and run it with bar staff running it, or I don’t know, I’ll just close it down, or sell it if someone wants to buy it, or I might just shut the doors.
Yeah, sometimes things are best left as a moment so you have time to go and do other things, right?
Life’s short, and you’ve got to empty your pond to fill it up again. I’ll see what happens. A big part of it was my friend Tony. He’s run a big venue before and he’s really supportive, when I’ve got a vision of something, he’s one of the very few people that will see it before it happens. A lot of other people don’t see things until it’s right in front of them, and then they might want to do a similar thing. But I guess it’s like buying ostriches, everyone reads the same magazine, and then everyone has ostriches so they’re not worth much.
How many shows do you do per week?
I used to do every day, and then bands started doing Friday, Saturday nights. But now it’s just Friday and Saturday nights and some Thursday horror movies. And then during the week I use it for rehearsal and to prepare stuff.
When did you start learning magic?
I started learning when I was young, maybe three or four, but I kept it a secret and didn’t tell anyone, because I just knew that it was a secretive thing. And I didn’t want to come out and do a trick if I wasn’t good at it. I always wanted to be a dentist, and I made music and stuff like that. And then I did a magic show a few years ago at The Wesley Anne in between bands and it got a good reaction, and then I just kept doing it.
How long ago was that?
Probably eight years I’m guessing. But I’m from Albury and I was living there. My family told me there was an old magician looking for an apprentice, and I made contact with him, got the train up to Nambucca Heads up near Coffs Harbour. I didn’t really want to stay up there but I became his friend. He was doing a travelling show with big illusions and I was really interested in that. And I just kept, it takes over your mind when you really love doing something like that – or your soul. Then I went to Japan and travelled around with music and I met a couple of magical people.
What draws you to magic?
Just creating something that’s impossible, and I personally just like unusual things. So if you’re holding a flower and then the audience looks back at you and you’re holding a bird, there’s something about that I like, and seeing the reaction of people to it.