The Boy in the Iceberg (play)


 * This article is about the play. For the episode of the same name, see The Boy in the Iceberg.

"fire"

- The Boy in the Iceberg is a new production from acclaimed playwright Pu-on Tim who scoured the globe gathering information on the Avatar from the icy South Pole to the heart of Ba Sing Se. His sources include singing nomads, pirates, prisoners of war, and a surprisingly knowledgeable merchant of cabbage.



The Boy in the Iceberg is a play created by acclaimed writer Pu-on Tim and performed by the Ember Island Players. Carefully researched, the play follows the journey of The Avatar and his friends. Pu-on Tim's sources include singing nomads, pirates, prisoners of war, and a surprisingly knowledgeable merchant of cabbage.

The play begins with Katara and Sokka finding Aang, the Avatar in the iceberg. The play then progresses to Team Avatar's adventures in the Earth Kingdom, the Siege of the Northern Water Tribe, Ba Sing Se and the assault on the Fire Nation Capital. The play also displays Fire Nation propaganda and ends the play with the defeat of Aang and Zuko and the subsequent supreme victory of Ozai and the Fire Nation. It is likely that the play closed, was banned or was rewritten with the defeat of Ozai. It is also possible that the Ember Island version of the play was rewritten from its original to one that suits Fire Nation propaganda. This can be seen in the way Team Avatar is portrayed as heroes, until the last scenes, in which they become villains to the Fire Nation.

Characters
(All of which are portrayed by actors)
 * Katara
 * Sokka
 * Aang
 * Appa
 * Zuko
 * Uncle (Iroh)
 * Momo
 * Bumi
 * Jet
 * Suki (non-speaking)
 * The Blue Spirit
 * Yue
 * Toph
 * Azula
 * Ty Lee (non-speaking)
 * Mai (non-speaking)
 * Ozai

Mentioned Characters

 * Combustion Man
 * The Painted Lady

Play
Each act is based on each of the books of the real series.

Act I

 * Katara and Sokka release Aang from the iceber, and discover he is the Avatar.
 * Zuko and Uncle search for the Avatar.
 * Aang finds Momo at an Air Temple.
 * Sokka asks Suki, the Kyoshi Warrior, if his Kyoshi warrior dress makes his butt too big.
 * Aang must answer Bumi's riddles if Team Avatar is to leave Omashu.
 * Katara steals the Waterbending scroll from pirates.
 * Zuko has captured Aang, but the mysterious Blue Spirit saves the Avatar.
 * Jet wipes out the "nasty town" for Katara.
 * Disinterested, Team Avatar flies over the Great Divide.
 * Sokka says goodbye to Yue as she departs to become the Moon.
 * The Avatar becomes Koizilla and defeats the Fire Nation armada.

Act II

 * The Avatar finds an Earthbending teacher, Toph who is a muscular blind man who sees by releasing a "sonic wave" from the mouth.
 * Zuko and Uncle split up.
 * Team Avatar, Zuko, and Uncle run into Azula but she escapes by distracting Zuko.
 * The Drill tries to break down the walls of Ba Sing Se.
 * Jet is hypnotized by Long Feng and attacks Team Avatar, but is killed by a falling rock.
 * Katara admits her romantic feelings for Zuko while imprisoned with him.
 * Azula challenges Zuko to choose his country or treachery. Zuko chooses his country and pushes Uncle down (yelling that he smells and that he hates him for all time, no less).
 * Mai and Ty Lee defeat a pair of royal guards. Aang enters the Avatar State, but is defeated by Azula's lightning.

Act III

 * Team Avatar goes to the Fire Nation and Aang gets better (scene not shown).
 * Katara becomes the Painted Lady (scene not shown).
 * Sokka gets a sword (scene not shown).
 * Combustion Man dies (scene not shown).
 * The Fire Nation is invaded (scene not shown).
 * Zuko joins Team Avatar.
 * The Fire Lord plans to use the power from the Comet to fight the Avatar.
 * Azula and Zuko battle; Zuko loses.
 * Ozai and Aang battle; Ozai defeats Aang.
 * Ozai achieves total victory and the Fire Nation conquers the world.

Special Effects

 * In battle scenes, the actors used rolled streams of confetti to represent bending and lightning.
 * During a battle scene with Mai, a stage hand took the blade out of her hand and ran with it across stage, making it look like she threw it.
 * In the scene of The Drill, stage workers use fans to blow dust across the stage, to create the effect of the outer wall turning to sand as the Drill makes its way through.

Differences Between Characters

 * Katara is a well developed and endowed woman who is overly melodramatic. She is constantly preaching about hope.
 * Sokka is portrayed as overly fixated on food. However, after Sokka himself gives advice to his actor, the portrayal becomes more realistic to Sokka's true comedic nature.
 * Aang's portrayal as a goofy prankster, played by a woman, is reminiscent of Peter Pan, another male character that is often played by a woman.
 * Zuko's zealous search for the Avatar to restore his honor is referenced as a joke in the play. In the play scene referencing The Chase, Azula distracts Zuko and Team Avatar by claiming to see Zuko's honor. When Zuko is defeated in Act III of the play, he screams "honor!"
 * In the play, Zuko's scar is on the right side of his face instead of the left. A little boy dressed like Aang says to the real Zuko that "the scar is on the wrong side".
 * Uncle Iroh is portrayed as a useless glutton who is fixated on cake instead of tea. He also seems to be less spiritual.
 * Toph is portrayed by a buff man and he also claims that his character is blind but can see by releasing a sonic wave from his mouth.
 * Azula is not portrayed as evil or calculating at all. Her speech is strangely bombastic and she is seen wearing pink and blue clothing.
 * In the scene referencing the The Blue Spirit, The Blue Spirit saves Aang from Zuko even though The Blue Spirit is Zuko's alter ego. His mask is also overly large and silly. It should be noted that Commander Zhao, who really captured Aang, was absent from the scene and was replaced by Zuko.
 * Ozai is portrayed as the stereotypical villain common to old horror movies. He has over-exaggerated facial features and even disappears in a puff of smoke.
 * Mai and Ty Lee are shown once throughout the play. Mai is shown to have no eyes and to hold her stilettos (short daggers in the play) in her hair, instead of her robes. Ty Lee's fighting style is overly simplified and more comical than the real Ty Lee's. She is depicted as an overweight ballerina.
 * Momo is a small hand puppet who can "talk". Aang's actor voices one line for the puppet: "Hi, everybody. I love you!"

Trivia

 * The play is named after the first episode.
 * The play's poster is a reference to the cover of the Book 1 DVD box set.
 * Boy in the Iceberg features elements from several different styles of classical theatre. The techniques used to create the special effects are reminiscient of xiqu (Chinese opera) and kabuki (Japanese classical dance-drama), while the acting and characterizations are based on conventions from pantomime (a type of comedic theatre unique to England and its former colonies) and commedia dell'arte (Italian improvisational comedy).
 * Casting a woman as Aang mirrors a real world tendency to cast women as young boys in voice acting roles. This trend was noticeably defied for the Avatar series.
 * Team Avatar's reaction to the play was comically the reaction of many fans to the movie, The Last Airbender: "horrible, but the effects were decent".