The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 4 plus 3 plus 5 plus 7 letter word MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING
I've seen this crossword clue in The Guardian
M
U
C
H
A
D
O
A
B
O
U
T
N
O
T
H
I
N
G
More clues leading to the result MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "play" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case play = much ado about nothing.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.