Loves assimilating the lines for Shakespearean role (7)
I believe the answer is:
othello
'shakespearean role' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'loves assimilating the lines' is the wordplay.
'loves' becomes 'oo' (love means 0 in tennis).
'assimilating' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'lines' becomes 'll' (two abbreviations for line).
'the'+'ll'='thell'
'oo' enclosing 'thell' is 'OTHELLO'.
'for' is the link.
(Other definitions for othello that I've seen before include "Shakespeare hero" , "Jealous character" , "Shakespeare tragedy" , "Moorish gentleman" , "Old Black Ram!" .)