Storyteller in court, near to collapse (9)
I believe the answer is:
raconteur
'storyteller' is the definition.
(raconteur is a kind of storyteller)
'court near to collapse' is the wordplay.
'to collapse' is an anagram indicator.
'court'+'near'='courtnear'
'courtnear' is an anagram of 'RACONTEUR'.
'in' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for raconteur that I've seen before include "He's good at telling stories" , "Narrator" , "A skilled story teller" , "Amusing fellow" , "source of stories?" .)