Meet the characters: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland©

The protagonist of the story, who falls down the rabbit hole into Wonderland. Christopher Wheeldon's Alice is older than in the original book. In the ballet she is a teenager in love with Jack, the gardener's son.

Jack is the gardener's son, he is in love with Alice, but is sent away after being accused of stealing a jam tart, when in fact it was Alice that gave it to him. When they enter Wonderland, Jack becomes the Knave who must battle with the Queen of Hearts.

The White Rabbit is the Queen's assistant, he is terrified of his villainous employer and accidentally leads Alice down the rabbit hole into Wonderland. He is also portrayed by the same dancer who plays Lewis Carroll.

The tap-dancing Mad Hatter lives in perpetual tea-time, trapped in a never-ending tea-party by the Queen of Hearts. He talks in riddles and frustrates Alice with his nonsensical whimsy until fed up, she leaves the party and continues on through Wonderland.

Every fairytale needs a villain, and the Queen of Hearts is one of the best. This bad-tempered monarch is quick to hand down death sentences for the most minor of offences, and her creator, Lewis Carrol, described her as "a blind fury".

A perpetually grinning cat who appears and disappears at will. Operated by eight dancers, The Australian Ballet's scenic artist, Kat Chan says of the smiling feline:

" The trickiest part of this prop was surprisingly the painted teeth, which could have looked too ‘vampiric’ or ‘fangy’. It ended up being tweaked backstage by associate set designer Jaimie Todd, who made it a friendlier cat.’