Taking a combination of Anna Freudian and Winnicottian approaches to play and playing, this paper considers the nonlinear relationship between interpretation and play in the process of child analysis. Using extensive clinical material from the analysis of a late latency girl who had been adopted, the author revisits the technique of using the displacement in play and the variety of modalities within which a child's unconscious concerns can be approached when disruption of the setting threatens because of the child's fragile ego.