"Much play is made of the..."

[kk]

Dear sir,

I came across the following:

"Much play is made of the 'informality and simplicity' of the event proceedings, but I don't think these virtues need be affected adversely
by better organisation and smoother controling."

What does "play" mean here?

I appriciate any comments.
Thank you.

[kk]

To add, this is from a british book.
The expression might not be familiar.

Thank you.

[Tdol]

Much play= a lot is said

[Tdol]

PS- we have British, Canadian and American speakers here, so someone will generallyknow.

[kk]

Thank you for your answer and comment.

So, if I were to change the words of the sentence, would for example:

(Original)
"Much play is made of the 'informality and simplicity'
of the event proceedings, but I don't think these
virtues need be affected adversely
by better organisation and smoother controling."

(Revised)
"Many people say that the 'informality and simplicity'
of the event is what makes it attract people.
But I don't think better organisation and smoother
controling will do much harm to these virtues."

be acceptable?

Or does "A lot is said" particularly have a negative or positive meaning?

Thank you in advance.

[Tdol]

I don't think it's synonymous with 'many people say'. It is more that there is a great deal of talk, but not necessarily right- a fuss, maybe.

[Casiopea]

Originally Posted by kk

Thank you for your answer and comment.

So, if I were to change the words of the sentence, would for example:

(Original)
"Much play is made of the 'informality and simplicity'
of the event proceedings, but I don't think these
virtues need be affected adversely
by better organisation and smoother controling."

(Revised)
"Many people say that the 'informality and simplicity'
of the event is what makes it attract people.
But I don't think better organisation and smoother
controling will do much harm to these virtues."

be acceptable?

Or does "A lot is said" particularly have a negative or positive meaning?

Thank you in advance.

I believe play is being used in terms of opponents discussing an issue (i.e., much play ~ much debate)

What about:

There's a great deal of attention being paid to whether or not the 'informality and simplicity' of the event proceedings is efficacious, and although I agree that both informality and simplicity can indeed produce the desired effect, it wouldn't hurt if the proceedings had better organisation and smoother controling.

'much play is made' means in this case as "lots of things done" about this...

[Casiopea]

Welcome

Try,

Hi, my name is Husen Moskovskiy and I'm from Uzbekistan. I came to the UK two years ago, and I really liked it. The reason I'm here is to improve my English.