Astracanada or astracán , as it is also called, is a comic theatrical subgenre that turned out to be very popular in Spain, during the first half of the last century .
The main situation that determined the appearance of this subgenre was the crisis that the traditional sainetes were going through , that is, it did not matter if there was water in terms of plot plausibility, if the absurd was constantly resorted to or if there was no literary quality directly , the mission it was clear: to replace the farce and make the audience laugh at any cost.
Among its most recognizable characteristics are: theatricalization of reality itself, exploitation of resources such as the pun (repetition figure that consists of rearranging the elements of one sentence in a different way, in another one, in order to generate contrast), falsillas sentimental, crazy situations, language distortions , crude word games, regional typification of speech, use of proper names that give way to easy misunderstanding and jokes , that is, everything that happens in the astracanada is subject to the joke.
Meanwhile, the most prominent figure of his comic genre is the so-called fresco , an extremely witty character, who oscillates between the manners and the comic, reaching the profile of the rogue who invents situations or realities, although without real evil and who always They turn out to be discovered and ridiculed by the environment.
Although the astracanada was an extremely popular artistic proposal during those mentioned times, to which the public eager for fun and escape turned phenomenally, on very few occasions it managed to stand out reaching a literary level , therefore, with the passage of time it was fading until practically its disappearance as such.
The most prominent figures of this subgenre have been Pedro Muñoz Seca (Don Mendo's Revenge, The Executioner of Seville and Los Extremadura touches each other) and Pedro Pérez Fernández.