Auden welcomes first person from Clare to theatrical group (8)
I believe the answer is:
audience
'theatrical group' is the definition.
'audience' can be an answer for 'group' (audience is a kind of group). I'm not certain of the 'theatrical' bit.
'auden welcomes first person from clare' is the wordplay.
'welcomes' means one lot of letters goes inside another (in sense of 'invites in').
'first person' becomes 'i'.
'from' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'clare' becomes 'ce' (I've seen this in other clues).
'auden' placed around 'i' is 'audien'.
'audien'+'ce'='AUDIENCE'
'to' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for audience that I've seen before include "Formal interview with very important person" , "important meeting" , "Formal interview; those at e.g. play" , "Formal interview with ruler or VIP" , "A gathering to watch and hear" .)