Birmingham Royal Ballet's new production is a family affair, as Fionnuala Bourke discovers.

She is subjected to spiteful sneers daily, forced to do tedious tasks and physically abused by her step sisters.

But are Cinderella's siblings quite so mean in real life?

The fairytale character's tale of woe has featured in childhoods across the world since the 17th century.

Wide-eyed youngsters gasp in horror as they see their beautiful heroine dressed in rags, neglected and abused by her siblings with her wicked step mother's approval.

One of the most modern interpretations of this classic is currently being performed at the Hippodrome by Birmingham Royal Ballet.

And it features real life sisters Jenna and Callie Roberts in the lead roles.

Principal dancer Jenna, aged 27, has been cast as Cinderella while Callie, aged 24, is performing as her evil step sister Skinny.

"It's great that we get to work together. You can be honest with your sister and you can rely on her for support and she will tell you if you are doing well or not," says Callie.

"Cinderella is a great show and we were really pleased when we were told which parts we were dancing.

"Our relationship is very different to Cinderella and Skinny.

"I tend not to think about Cinderella being Jenna when we are on stage.

"I don't think, 'oh no, it's Jenna that I'm pushing around', I just think, 'this is Cinderella' - and carry on pushing!

"I suppose that's what's nice about it in a way. If I was doing it with someone else I might be scared to push them or something, like they might be mad at me, but because we are sisters there are no boundaries."

Jenna says: "It's just what Skinny does. I don't expect any special treatment from Callie, and I don't get any!''

The sisters both began dancing, quite by chance, when a ballet school just happened to open at the end of their street in their home town of Newcastle in New South Wales, Australia.

Jenna was aged six and Callie aged three when they began classes at the Marie Walton-Mahon Dance Academy.

It was a move that was to change their family's life forever. It led to the sisters and their mum and dad, Sue and Greg, emigrating to Britain.

"The dance classes seemed like a fun thing to do. We had no history of ballet in our family. No one had danced professionally before, but we both really liked it and the teacher said we were really good, so we both kept doing it," says Jenna.

By the time she was 15 years-old Jenna was offered a place to develop her talent further at the Royal Ballet School in London.

She studied there for two-and-a-half years and was then employed by BRB, who she has performed with for ten years.

Callie moved to Britain four years after Jenna after she, too, was offered a place at the Royal Ballet School.

"One of the best things about dancing for the same company is that we get to see each other every day,'' says Jenna. "When I first came over I was on my own for four years. I only saw Callie once a year."

Callie says: "I was in Australia and Jenna couldn't afford to come back home that often, and I couldn't afford to come over here. We're a lot closer now. That's the best part of working together."