A kindly act that deserves our applause (4,4)
I believe the answer is:
good turn
'a kindly act that deserves our applause' is the definition.
'good turn' can be an answer for 'a kindly act' (thesaurus). I'm unsure of the remainder of the definition.
'a kindly act' is the wordplay.
'a kindly' becomes 'good' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'act' becomes 'turn' (theatre).
'good'+'turn'='GOOD TURN'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for good turn that I've seen before include "one hopes to see in cabaret" , "''One . . . . . . . . deserves another'' (4, 4)" , "star performer" , "Helpful act" , "Helping hand" .)