The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 4 plus 5 plus 6 letter word DAME FLORA ROBSON
I've seen this crossword clue in Financial Times
D
A
M
E
F
L
O
R
A
R
O
B
S
O
N
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Female appearing on stage" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case female appearing on stage = dame flora robson.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.