Royal taken in hand is, surprisingly, a source of drama (8)
I believe the answer is:
sheridan
'a source of drama' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this defines the answer.
'royal taken in hand is surprisingly' is the wordplay.
'royal' becomes 'er' (abbreviation for Elizabeth Regina).
'taken in' indicates putting letters inside.
'surprisingly' indicates anagramming the letters (a surprising ordering of the letters).
'hand'+'is'='handis'
'handis' anagrammed gives 'shidan'.
'er' put within 'shidan' is 'SHERIDAN'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for sheridan that I've seen before include "Richard Brinsley ........, Anglo-Irish author of ` `The School for Scandal' '" , "Creator of Mrs Malaprop in The Rivals" , "- Le Fanu, Ir. novelist" , "School for Scandal playwright" , "Who scandalised the educational establishment?" .)