A Monkey (The Adventures of a Monkey)
Somewhat ironically, perhaps, it was an unnamed monkey in a story written for children which brought the greatest threat to the author during Stalinist-era Russia when the story was attacked as an anti-Soviet Union allegory. The monkey escapes from the zoo following a bomb attack by the fascist army. His adventures exploring the city (Leningrad) eventually cause him to return to the captivity of the zoo as a preference to living among everyday society.
Vasia (The Actor)
Vasia is reluctantly persuaded to take over a small part in a theatre production after the actor gets drunk. As soon as he appears on stage, everyone in the audience recognizes him despite the fake beard and once he begins fighting back against the actors playing thieves attempting to rob him, the audiences goes wild urging him on. Before he knows it, what is happening in the play becomes a real life struggle.
Ivan Kuzmich Miakishev (The Electrician)
Miakishive is the titular electrician who works as part of the crew at a theater. One day he is treated “boorishly” by being unceremoniously shoved out of the way during a group photo. He vows to prove that the electrician is as important as anyone else in the production by refusing to run the lights.
Lebedev (Rose-Marie)
Lebedev feels pressed by his wife to have daughter baptized and in turn she is pressuring him because her parents have been pressuring her. Lebedev really has no desire to see things through and when the time comes for the ceremony he is unable to keep himself from consistently baiting the priest with insults. Conflict ensues.
The Man Getting a Photograph (The Photograph)
The unidentified man at the center of this very strange story goes to get a photograph take of himself, but complains when he see the result that it does not look anything like. An argument with the photographer leads to the police getting involved, the revelation that the photo in question does not feature his cheeks, and an attempt to find a photograph that resembles him which turns out to be of a woman in disguise.
