remus is right. I just checked it to be entirely sure. you can even draw several lines in a row (complex poly lines to close a face). as long as you keep holding down the shift key (starting when your cursor hovers over the face) it will continuously refer to this plane as drawing plane...
It definately not a group or component problem. Further work seems to suggest that I can only select the item at the back of the view I am working in (which is not at all helpful).
