Awoke close to eight, in brief dramatic appearance (4,2)
I believe the answer is:
came to
'awoke' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)
'close to eight in brief dramatic appearance' is the wordplay.
'close to' suggests the final letters (the close of something is the end).
'in' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'brief dramatic appearance' becomes 'cameo' (eg a cameo in a film).
The last letter of 'eight' is 't'.
't' going inside 'cameo' is 'CAME TO'.
(Other definitions for came to that I've seen before include "In the main, stopped" , "Reached" .)