From London confinement to coastal splendor

Louisa Binder’s life did an instant, 180-degree flip.
This was pandemic time, when London was finishing its third lockdown. “I had been stuck in my flat, by myself,” she recalled.
Then came the news: She had a lead role as Constance (shown here) in “Hotel Portofino,” the lush period-piece drama. Soon, she was going from urban confinement to splendor on the Croatian coast.
“It was breathtaking,” Binder said. “I get off the plane and it’s sunny and the sea is turquoise.” This was the proper way to start a professional acting career.
Now the actors have filmed three six-episode seasons. The second one starts at 8 p.m. Sunday (Oct. 15) on PBS, juggling moments that are brash soap opera and serious historical drama.
This is the 1920s in small-town Italy, where Bella (Natascha McElhone) has created an elegant hotel, aimed at British tourists. Helping her (in varying amounts) are her arrogant husband Cecil, their widowed daughter Alice and their son Lucian, a sweet-spirited guy who was battered by the war.
Lucian clearly has his eyes on Constance (Binder; they’re shown here). She’s an attractive maid who is fond of swimming, art and her child, back home with her mother. But by the end of the first season, lives had imploded.
Finances were wobbly and Lucian had to marry the wealthy Rose, to save his mom’s hotel. Cecil found Bella’s love letters, hit her and was soon told to leave. And as Mussolini’s fascism grew, Lucian’s friend joined revolutionaries.
For Binder, this was an intriguing introduction to screen acting. Onstage, she could go big; she had even starred in “As You Like It,” as Rosalind. (“I think she’s one of Shakespeare’s most complex characters.”) But now she has a role of sly glances, soft smiles and restraint.
“It’s tricky sometimes,” she said. “You’re kind of holding back …. It’s not her place to be vocal.”
Still, she said, she was taken with the role as soon as she read it. “I loved her straight-away. Constance felt very natural to her.”
Even the details seem to fit, including Constance’s love for swimming. Binder grew up in Malaysia, where her parents work as architects; swimming and seaside life were key parts of her childhood.
Movies were also key. At first, “I didn’t know that this was fake; I just wanted to be part of it.”
She insisted on studying theater. Her parents had some doubts, hearing about actors’ unemployment and agony. But they went along with it and she graduated from the Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts, in London.
And then … well, the unemployment/agony thing didn’t happen. She did remote auditions for “Portofino,” then left her isolation to do a “chemistry test” with Oliver Dench, already cast as Lucian.
These were opposites: She was going for her first on-camera role; he had co-starred roles in two shows that reached the U.S. (“Ride” on Nickelodeon and “Pandora” on CW) and had professional actors nearby – his grandfather and his great-aunt (Dame Judith Dench, no less).
The chemistry clicked and Bender’s life was unlocked. Each year, she spends about three-and-a-half months in Croatia, sometimes joining colleagues for small road trips and restaurants visits. “I’m a big sea-foodie,” she said.
Then it’s back to visit parents in Malaysia, friends in Australia and her apartment in London. It’s sort of like her old life, except for not being stuck alone, wondering if she’ll ever get a job.