Awfully good emperor who wrote plays (6)

I believe the answer is:

pinero

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'who wrote plays' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this defines the answer.

'awfully good emperor' is the wordplay.
'awfully good' becomes 'pi' (old-fashioned term for pious. I am not sure about the 'awfully' bit.).
'emperor' becomes 'nero' (Roman emperor).
'pi'+'nero'='PINERO'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for pinero that I've seen before include "Arthur Wing --, English dramatist" , "Sir Arthur Wing -, British playwright" , "Sir 4 Wing ---, dramatist" .)

I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.

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