Wee drink before start of afternoon play (5)
I believe the answer is:
drama
'play' is the definition.
('drama' can be a synonym of 'play')
'wee drink before start of afternoon' is the wordplay.
'wee drink' becomes 'dram' (I've seen this before).
'before' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'start of' suggests taking the first letters.
The initial letter of 'afternoon' is 'a'.
'dram'+'a'='DRAMA'
(Other definitions for drama that I've seen before include "Literary genre for the theatre" , "Acting" , "Theatre or radio play" , "Play; exciting situation" , "Turbulent emotional episode" .)