It's set in an open prison for males in the UK where all the toffs are
sent. But, as not enough toffs are sentenced to keep the place full,
some hoi polloi are also sent there. 

On discovering that it's better than a 5 Star hotel, many of the
inmates don't ever want to leave.

That's one challenge ... If they're too naughty, they risk getting
sent to a closed prison ... If they're too good, they'll risk getting
parolled. (So far, all this is true)

The play revolves round four of the inmates and a female warder who,
inter alia, is in charge of handing out the medication. (Yes, they
really do have female warders.) 

Unfortunately, she is dyslexic and frequently dispenses the wrong
stuff but, like Coue, she discovers that it doesn't matter anyway ...

NOW ... All I want is a good title ... a good start ... a great ending
... and a fantastic middle bit ...

All for $2!

Am I asking too much? (NO Sublime One ... THAT is not the question)
BUT if anyone can post any great ideas as a comment, then they will
get a supplementary directed at them.

So ... Off you go ........

Shame it's not set in a female prison:  "Strangeways" seems a very
appropriate title!

"Grand Slam"
Do the prisoners sublet their cells?

"At Her Majesty's Pleasure Dome"

Jailhouse Mock
Catch-23
Stay For Your Life!
Jail Joy
The Good, the Bad, and the Mediocre
Champaign Chains
Bastille of Balance
President's Cell
Locked & Loving It
Fifty Ways to Stay in Jail
The Cage Rage
We'll Always Have Prison
Postcards From Prison
Hotel Jail
Prison Pleasure
Cocooned
Jail Continued
Trapped & Trying
Sweet Sweet Prison Life
Cherished Chains
Stalemate

"No Parking"

When Josh McBain is sent to Castle Park Prison, he is horrified. This
is not what punishment is all about, and he demands to be punished.
After all, that's no less that his girlfriend Tracey said he deserved.
Everything he sees goes against his strong egalitarian principles
according to which everyone should suffer equally.

After he's met Sir Henry Hawkesworthy (a very Bad Baronet) he's
prepared to accept that maybe not being allowed to fly to Rio any
weekend you want, and being deprived of the services of a valet, does
constitute punishment for the very posh, but not for the likes of
Josh. He's done a bad thing, he's sorry, and he wants to suffer for
it.

Unfortunately that goes against all the beliefs of Warden Julia
Jeffries (a distant descendant of the famous hanging judge, and still
trying to clear the family name). In short order Josh finds himself
being seen by prison psychologist Dr. Strangeways and he is prescribed
a well-known brand of "happy pills".

When warder Kellie Cassidy mixes up the medications, and gives him the
stimulants designed for "Horrie" Bull, and Sir Henry - who isn't on
medication at all - gets Josh's "happy pills" - chaos ensues.

Depending on how serious your social commentary is, Josh is driven to
try one last desperate crime in order to get the punishment he
believes he deserves, and either succeeds or fails according to
whether you want a happy ending or not.

Characters:
Josh McBain
Tracey Williams
Sir Henry Hawkesworthy
Julia Jeffries
Sr. Strangeways
Kellie Cassidy
"Horrie" Bull

Opportunity for product placement in name of medication.

Hi, My Thanks to You All, 

And especially the unpaid gang of Blackies (the Non-Researchers)

For the Blueies (the Researchers), please say if you would like a
Supplementary ...

None of the proposed titles to date has tickled my fancy but I adore
the stuff that Angy has outlined.

Kindest regards

Bryan

"Brixton-on-Sea"
"Pentonvillas"
"Vermouth Scrubs"

"The Balance of Justice"  alluding to the "not to good - not too bad" situation
"The Gold Lock-up"  even more obscure reference via Goldilocks.
"Guard - my Jacuzzi's blocked!"

"Guilty, please"

CLOUGH'S NEW PLAY SLATED FOR MAJOR AWARDS

Fresh from her recent role as the strange Baroness Kessler in Roman
Polanski's "The Ninth Gate," Barbara Jefford continues to delight
audiences with her portrayl of wacky warder Penelope Winston-Smythe in
Bryan Clough's new play "Inmate, Out Mate!" currently running at
Wyndham's Theatre.

Jefford, in her role as Penelope, plays opposite stage luminaries
Anthony Hopkins, Daniel Day Lewis and John Cleese, three of the rough
and tumble inmates of Loxley Mansion, a posh open prison for mediocre
criminals.

The play opens with Timothy Topper (Cleese) in a dilemma: His sentence
is about to expire and he is rife with angst to leave Loxley.  Having
become accustomed to its space, Topper is endeavoring to discover a
way to remain at the elegant open prison.  He can scant afford the
"real world" outside Loxley's walls and his penchant for fine scones
and kippers causes him to develop a bi-polar condition; at times he
thinks he is Robery Peary and at other times he beieves himself to be
Roald Amundsen.

Toppers prison buddies, Joey Hiccups (Hopkins) and Brady Whifflesnuff
(Lewis) beg Penelope to "cure" Topper but her raging dyslexia only
serves to complicate the situation further: She administers the wrong
medication to Topper whereupon he believes himself to be the
reincarnation of Marilyn Monroe.  In a fascinating dream sequence,
"Marilyn" secures a spot on the Benny Hill show where "she" is
exceedingly admired by Hill (played by a well-padded Peter Cooke) for
"her" curvaceous exterior and oozing sexuality, and the two have a
child together.

Soon, the plot thickens when Topper/Marilyn begins flirting with other
inmates and Penelope begins feeling an odd attraction for the loopy
prisoner.  It's then up to Hiccups and Whifflesnuff to help her find
the right combination of drugs to bring him back to reality.  In the
play's only musical number, "Too Many Choices," Hiccups, Whifflesnuff
and Penelope delight the audience with roller-skating antics and a
healthy dose of cross-dressing.

As with all Clough's plays, it's non-stop fun and action for audiences
of all ages.  Don't miss this hilarious theater offering!  As one
pleased attendee recently stated, "I didn't know you could do that
with asparagus!"

I suggest that you emphasize the haute cuisine of the prison.

Then you can name the play "The Salad of Reading Gaol."

PBP --

Okay, I'm game.  The title assignment is difficult, as American prison
slang is so different from British prison slang.

You have a mix of guys with sophisticated financial crimes and a
knowledge of investments -- and a few street-smart drug dealers.  The
drama is around a pair of them, one from each side, each trying to
manipulate the other in a plot reminiscent of the movie "Trading
Places."

The financial type (who could be modelled on Michael Milken or Nick
Leeson) pulls a coup over the dealer; then the dealer pulls the wool
over the financial guy.  Then they decide to work together, using a
new piece of technology (maybe an Internet 419 scam) to make money off
the REALLY gullible public that put them in jail.

You'll have to construct the denouement, though GA researchers would
be happy to build a library of information on how Milken worked; how
Leeson was able to funnel millions out of Baring Bank; or whatever
topic you'd like.  [Shameless plug mode OFF].

The warder and the drugs are a subplot, allowing you to make
appropriate commentary on drugs, guilt and punishment, or whatever.

Now, as for titles:
Guilty Pleasures
Sing Sing Country Club
Maximum Insecurity
Minimum Security
Toffee Detention Center
Toffee House Blues
Tower of Plundor
Four One Mine

My guess is that you'll get it written and come up with the perfect
title.

Best regards,

Omnivorous-GA

I am overwhelmed!

Such talent ... Such ideas ...

Only one nitpick, Journalist, with your inspired offering.

Sadly, Peter Cook is no longer with us ...

But perhaps Phil Silvers, Danny Kaye or Buster Keaton might fill the bill?

My thanks to you all.

"Am I asking too much? (NO Sublime One ... THAT is not the question)"

probonopublico - you seem to be implying that, because I have the 
creative juices of a flea in heat, I would therefore presume to 
answer the above question rather than the actual one, or, at the
very least, post a Request for Clarification to determine if this
would be acceptable.

Please refrain from such accurate assessments of my character,
lest the editors come to believe that I have established a
personal relationship with a customer, which is a violation
of the Terms of Service, and could result in my dismissal forthwith
(or fifthwith).

sublime1-ga

Hi, Again, O Sublime One

Now there's a plot ...

A variation on 'A Shop Around the Corner' and 'You Have Mail' ...

A gorgeous Researcher (Meg Ryan) develops a forbidden relationship
with a Poor Seeker After Wisdom (Pierce Brosnan) whilst her lofty
superiors (James Conway and James Woods)look on disapprovingly because
(naturally) they both rather fancy the lovely Meg and they have untold
Billions with which to pursue their interests ....

Over to you ..........

"Sadly, Peter Cook is no longer with us ..."

That's why he's playing the late Benny Hill.  ;)

PS  And I think that "Inmate, Out Mate!" is simply the most perfect title. ;)

You came up with the title yourself...

"Off you go..."

"Prime Time"

A variation on 'A Shop Around the Corner' and 'You Have Mail'...

The thot plickens:

In a secret code, the beautiful researcher uses the first 
letter, in each of the carefully crafted lines 
of her comments to the PSAW, to express to him her
veiled ardor for his him - his talents, his cleverness, his
every thought. Other researchers suspect something is afoot,
yet they hold their tongues, never saying anything about it
overtly, in the GA threads, but talking about their suspicions 
under cover of the Researchers Forum...

Which, of course, is being carefully monitored ...

Bird in a Gilded Cage

I think a good title for a play about a genteel prison would be
"Pardon Me, Sir."

Hi Probonopublico
                                  A very good name which I asure you
is absolutely original is "Porridge". I am sure none of your listeners
have heard of the name.
Reguards Kemlo

Hi, Kemlo

Me neither!

Where did you find it?

KR

Big B

"Porridge" is not original.  There was a British comedy TV series
staring Ronnie Barker set in a prison with this name.  Certainly the
prison was poorly run.

TO Xarqi
                No, the prison was H.M.Prison Slade.  It was the
program that was called porridge.

Quite right.  My comment was ambiguously phrased, sorry.  It was the
series with this name, not the prison.

Prime Time 
or
Time Out

Starring Susan Sarandon as the wacky warder Letitia Overbight has a
secret crush on I. M. Hardly Worthy, who runs the concessions the
famed Oldcastle Prison, just south of the old Newcastle Prison.

Sarandon, in her usual aplomb (having divested herself of her unusual
aplomb in the memorable film, "Alien") throws her all into the role,
thereby nailing another role which seemingly requires little effort on
her part, except the number of multi-syllable words in the dialogue.

The plot, while at times thin, is hardly your usual prison gruel, but
a hearty feast of high humour hijinks, including a somewhat unlikely
subplot in which Pamela Sue Anderson plays a brainy scientist
disguised as a man.

Oh gawd ... I've reached writer's block ... I need inspiration!

Seeking the meaning of life,
Serenata