West End right here on our own doorstep

And there is not a spare seat in the house, as Dame Helen reprises her role as the Queen for Peter Morgan's political satire The Audience.

So packed is the venue that an extra show has had to be arranged, and as the lights dim, the sense of excitement and expectation is palpable. But this is not the West End, where Mirren's performance as Her Majesty has been wowing audiences since it opened in February.

We're at Wolverhampton's Light House cinema, where the show is being beamed live from London's Gielgud Theatre.

Duty manager Sean Natton says the success of the live theatre shows have exceeded all expectations since the cinema started screening them two years ago. The biggest problem now is keeping up with demand.

"It's been fantastic," he says. "These are now almost always sell-outs. When we first started putting on the live shows, it was a matter of filling the seats, but now we usually have to do an encore screening.

"This one sold out ages ago, so we've organised another show for Sunday – and we've already sold 160 tickets for that."

Mr Natton says the cinema has been screening live link-ups with everything from grand opera to the recent premiere of the Stone Roses documentary film Made of Stone. And he believes it marks the start of a growing trend by which the medium of cinema will bring high culture to the masses.

The Audience is a political satire parodying the conversations that might have taken place during the Queen's weekly audiences with eight of the 12 prime minsters who have served during her reign.

Colin Middleton, aged 70, of Kingswinford, has come to see The Audience with his wife Ann. "We've always liked the theatre, as long as we've been together," says Mrs Middleton, 69. "We used to go to the Dudley Hippodrome, and we've seen some great shows there, like Laurel and Hardy," adds her husband. But while the couple love seeing the live West End performances at the Light House, Mrs Middleton does have one gripe. "It seems a little strange sometimes. When you're at the theatre, people will applaud, but when its on the screen, they are a little more reluctant to show their appreciation," she points out.

Not that the reticence lasts long. Within moments of the show starting, laughter rings around the auditorium as Paul Ritter's morose portrayal of John Major leaves the Queen bemused with tales about his impoverished childhood. The ripples of laughter then grow to a roar as Richard McCabe's rather uncouth Harold Wilson drops half a sugar basin into his teacup.

Within a matter of minutes, the audience seem oblivious to being in a cinema, and are laughing and applauding as if they were at the Gielgud. Retired schoolteacher Anne Battye, 67, from Perton, loved the show.

"I was thinking of going to see this show in London, and I just think it is great that you can come and see shows like this in Wolverhampton," she says. "When you go to London, the tickets are £50 or £60 and then you have got the transport costs and the accommodation. Here, you can see the same show for £11 or £12."

For Diane Slack from Shifnal, it is the first time she has seen such a show, having been brought along by her friends Sue Bellingham from Wolverhampton and Barbara Bostock from Perton. "I love it, I think it's really good," she says.

Like the Middletons, Paul and Judith Kent from Penn are also keen theatre-goers, but they too have become regulars at the Light House for its West End shows.

"Going to the West End is something you might do for a treat, but because this is on the doorstep it is much easier for people to get here," says Mr Kent, 59. "It's just like being at the theatre," says Mrs Kent, 56.

As the lights dim for the second act, the bar empties quickly, and the audience rush back, eager to see Her Majesty's audience with Margaret Thatcher – and they take their seats safe in the knowledge that if a band of drummers decide to march up Fryer Street, the Queen will not be storming off stage to confront them.