Machine or article at the play centre (5)
I believe the answer is:
lathe
'machine' is the definition.
(lathe is a kind of machine)
'article at the play centre' is the wordplay.
'article' becomes 'the' (the definite article in English).
'at' means one lot of letters go next to another (I've seen this in other clues).
'centre' says to take the centre.
The central letters of 'play' are 'la'.
'the' put after 'la' is 'LATHE'.
'or' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for lathe that I've seen before include "Machine for cutting, drilling or polishing" , "Turner's machine" , "Revolver" , "Turner's tool" , "Means for turning" .)