Helping Shakespearean heroine cut down working (7)
I believe the answer is:
portion
'helping' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'shakespearean heroine cut down working' is the wordplay.
'shakespearean heroine' becomes 'portia' (I've seen this before).
'cut down' means to remove the last letter.
'working' becomes 'on'.
'portia' with its final letter taken off is 'porti'.
'porti'+'on'='PORTION'
(Other definitions for portion that I've seen before include "Share, helping" , "Serving" , "Part - share" , "Amount of food" , "Segment" .)