In my edition of
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (Penguin Classics, 2001) Tennessee Williams issued a challenge, of sorts. He provided two versions of the play's third and final act: the original version, and the version which first appeared to the public on Broadway. Both acts concern the future of ‘Big Daddy’s’ plantation (who of his sons and their spouses will own what of his fortune) now that he is dying of cancer, and the reveal of that fact to his wife, ‘Big Mama’. Beyond this a number of substantial changes were undergone, due to the influence of the director Elia Kazan. Williams left it to the reader, if they so wished, to decide the better version. And, as I like a challenge…