The location of the Queen's Hall.

Plays were organised by Gus Levaine who ran the Darlaston theatre company and another in Cradley Heath.

The members were Marie Aston, Dot Claire, Vera Cook, Bert Evans, Gus Granville, Billy Glen, Jack Igo, Cyril Lane, Denise May, Linda May, Ruby Mildred, and Billy Russell. They performed a different show every week including dramas, farces, variety, and pantomimes, and made all of the costumes, scenery, and props.

Billy Russell, who later made a name for himself as a comedian, was only about seventeen years old when he began working for Gus Levaine. Whilst working at the Queen’s Hall he stayed with his Aunt May who lived in a bungalow opposite the hall. He was paid twelve shillings and sixpence a week, out of which eight shillings went to his aunt for board and lodgings, and for washing his clothes. His duties included scene painting, making props, doing odd jobs, and small acting roles in each production.

It was known locally as the "Blood Tub" because most of the plays included at least one murder. There were plays such as "Sweeny Todd", and "Maria Martin and the murder in the Red Barn".

Films were initially shown during the break in the middle of each production, well before 1910 when the Cinematograph Act of 1909 was implemented. After the passing of the Act, the hall obtained a licence to show films. It was over a year later that the Picturedrome, and the Olympia opened their doors for the first time.

The cinema was a make-shift affair. The projector stood on a small platform above the pay box at the rear of the hall. In 1916 the hall lost its cinema licence, possibly because it did not comply with the strict building code, and fire regulations that had been implemented. The plays and variety shows ceased around the end of the First World War, and the hall closed. After a short life as a warehouse, the hall was demolished to make way for the houses that are still there today.

In the 1914 - 1918 world war many people joined the local regiments and went to fight in France. Local factories also played their part by producing munitions for the war effort. Two hundred and sixty eight Darlaston people were killed in the war. The war memorial in Victoria Road, built as a tribute to them, was completed in the mid 1920s.

Darlaston opened its first purpose-built cinema, the Picturedrome, at Crescent Road in 1911. The first owner is believed to have been George Williams, who sold it in 1922 to Mr. Brettell of the Hockley Picture House Company.

It later became part of Colmore Entertainments Ltd. and was equipped to show cinemascope in 1956. The manager in 1956 was Mr. A. Webb, the licensee being Mr. V. I. Olliver. The cinema closed on 2nd February, 1959 the last films being "Escort West" and "Guns, Girls and Gangsters". It was demolished in the summer of 1963.