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The purpose of this paper is to understand the interconnection of identity play and identity work during transitions.

The authors have conducted a 46-year longitudinal and process-based study on film director Denys Arcand. The focus is on his contested career shift from being a political documentary filmmaker to a box-office success and maker of television commercials. Films and media interviews were largely and systematically analyzed.

In order to explain how to maintain a sense of authenticity in transitioning between contradictory paths, the authors highlight how identity play and identity work appear in self-fuelling interaction through four processes (fragmenting, developing, mixing, and extracting).

The authors suggest new ways to deal with career transitions as well as identity construction in constraining environments.

The authors offer a theoretical framework that makes it possible to combine understandings of identity play and identity work. In particular, the authors develop on how, through play, individuals can create circumstances favourable for performing identity work in the future.

In this retrospective of Ann Langley's extensive career, she shares how methodological insights emerged in her research career as a qualitative researcher in strategy and management. Her retrospective provides the back story of some of her highly-cited methods papers. Ann acknowledges the role that other researchers and authors have played in her research career.