The phrase "a time when plays" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used to refer to a specific period or occasion characterized by the performance or creation of plays.
Example: "The Renaissance was a time when plays flourished, showcasing the talents of many great playwrights."
Alternatives: "an era of theatrical performances" or "a period marked by plays".
Several Broadway plays are performing powerfully at the box office as summer begins, a time when plays usually fade fast while increasingly tourist-heavy audiences opt for musicals.
The play was an outgrowth of the feeling in the country for Adlai Stevenson, at a time when plays talked about issues that have something to do with our lives and society.
Top Girls, enthused Michael Billington in these pages - at a time when plays by women were still a rarity - "is the best British play ever from a woman dramatist".
A time when playing at home was not a disadvantage for the home team.
THERE was a time when playing classical piano in Togo might have seemed less odd.
Blame the source material, which is from a time when playing jacks was considered high entertainment.
There was a time when playing on the same team with an All-Star big man mattered greatly to Jason Kidd.
There was a time when playing host to the G8 (and, formerly, the G7) summit was a matter of local pride.
There was a time when playing host to the Spanish on a quick indoor court would have been enough to destabilize them.
At a time when play was generally dismissed as an empty waste of time, he urged his readers to love childhood and encourage its sports, pleasures, and "amiable instincts": "Is it nothing to be happy?
Even though he has lost in the quarterfinals at Wimbledon in his last two visits, he maintains that this should be his time of year: a time when playing conditions are quicker; a time when aggressive shot-making reaps more rewards; a time when he can tie Pete Sampras and William Renshaw for the men's record by winning his seventh Wimbledon title.
