Pitiful, drained performers suppressing flowing tears? It helps if one has a break (7,4)
I believe the answer is:
plaster cast
'it helps if one has a break' is the definition.
The definition suggests a singular noun which matches the answer.
'pitiful drained performers suppressing flowing tears?' is the wordplay.
'drained' suggests removing the centre.
'performers' becomes 'cast' (I've seen this before).
'suppressing' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'flowing' is an anagram indicator.
'pitiful' with its middle taken out is 'pl'.
'pl'+'cast'='plcast'
'tears' with letters rearranged gives 'aster'.
'plcast' placed around 'aster' is 'PLASTER CAST'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for plaster cast that I've seen before include "Protection for broken limbs etc" , "Copy made by pouring mixture into a mould - art class pet (anag)" , "Aid to bone-setting" , "sign of a break" , "Copy of an object made in a mould" .)