Mischa Barton on her femme fatale role at the Liverpool Playhouse

The OC’s Mischa Barton is making her UK stage debut in a new production of Hollywood thriller Double Indemnity which comes to Liverpool next month – and it seems she’s looking forward to her first visit to the banks of the Mersey.

“I’ve always heard such incredible things about Liverpool - the music history, the warmth of the people and the energy of the city,” says the British-American actor who has carved a busy and successful career on the small and big screen.

“So, I’m really excited to finally experience that for myself and bring Double Indemnity to this iconic city. I know the audiences will be amazing.”

While she’s best-known for her screen roles, including four years as the wealthy but troubled Marissa Cooper on the prime time hit teen drama TV series, London-born Barton actually started her acting career on stage as a small child in New York, where she moved with her family aged five.

She won critical praise for a series of roles in Off Broadway productions before moving into television and film (aged 11 she starred in Lawn Dogs opposite Sam Rockwell), and with a busy screen career, live theatre took a back seat. Double Indemnity marks her first stage appearance since she played Shelby in Steel Magnolias back in 2012.

James M Cain’s gripping 1936 crime novel, set in Los Angeles (and which Cain based on a real-life case in New York), has been adapted for the stage by Tim Holloway and comes to the Liverpool Playhouse from April 14-18.

Amid the wreckage of the Great Depression, when sharp-eyed insurance salesman Walter Huff meets the seductive Phyllis Nirdlinger to discuss her husband’s life insurance policy, he gets drawn into a plot to commit the perfect crime which will enable the pair to disappear into the Californian sunset with a pile of cash. Or will it?

The story was turned into a classic film noir in 1944, directed by Billy Wilder and starring Fred McMurray as Walter and the great Barbara Stanwyck as Phyllis.

It was nominated for seven Oscars although it came home empty handed, with the Best Picture going to Bing Crosby musical comedy vehicle Going My Way and Stanwyck losing the Best Actress statuette to Ingrid Bergman.

Above: Mischa Barton in Double Indemnity. Photo by Manuel Harlan. Top: Barton made her name in hit TV series The O.C.

Here, it’s Barton who is taking on the role of femme fatale Phyllis, and in an interview with Simon Gage, she explains: “I think she’s multi-faceted and I can relate to that.

“I think she’s got a lot of different sides to her and has strong opinions about not being tied down as a woman in a man’s world and that leads her to do all sorts of things (plot spoiler) …like murder.”

“She really is ruthless when it comes to not simply being the pretty thing that sits on the couch.”

The first thing Barton did when she was offered the role was to watch the original film, and specifically Stanwyck’s performance.

 “It’s got very little to do with what Oscar (Toeman, the director and literary associate at The Old Vic) and I are going to try and achieve with Phyllis," she says. "But it is an iconic role so it was definitely worth looking at the novel, the play, all of the material and then deciding which bits we’re going to concentrate on and what doesn’t really serve the purpose of the play now in 2026.”

Meanwhile the hapless Walter is played by Small Axe and Last Kingdom actor Ciarán Owens.

“It is very intimate,” Barton reveals of the on-stage relationship between the two characters. “They’re in love almost from the second they meet and have this thing for each other. It’s a magnetic duo, they kiss every night on stage, she slaps him, they have this very heated energy to them.”

She laughs: “Poor Ciarán, I’m not sure if he’s ready to get slapped every night. But we’ll see.”

Barton maintains she’s used to living out of a case, so touring the production is something she’s taking in her stride.

And she’s been looking forward to visiting corners of the country she’s never seen, including Liverpool, while sating her love of tea... and an unexpected addiction to Rowntree's Fruit Pastilles.

Double Indemnity comes to the Liverpool Playhouse from April 14-18. More details and tickets HERE.