1980s
The Opium Eater, based on Confessions of an English Opium-Eater by Thomas De Quincey, has had more than a dozen performances across the United Kingdom. The play was published by Capercaillie Books, made into a television production (featuring Peter Mullan) and a radio version directed by Stewart Conn.
The radio play won a BAFTA award equivalent in 1985. Dallmeyer believes The Opium Eater is somewhat autobiographical in nature as it is about a writer trying to find inspiration. He went on to state that "I don't think I'm that neurotic. I'm quite steady, really, mentally. You have to be in this job." Martin Cropper reviewed the show in The Times as one of the best he had seen at a fringe theatre. The Opium Eater won awards and was adapted for radio.
The Boys in the Backroom was part of a series of plays, produced by Salamander Press, called The Traverse Plays. The plays were written in celebration of Scottish playwrights and Dallmeyer's play was fifth in the series. The play was performed in theatres across America covering 10 cities including New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Pittsburgh. It was reviewed in The Times as a conspiracy story which "markets its paranoia through outsize performances". Following a performance in Los Angeles in 1987 it reviewed by the Los Angeles Times as "sophomoric and forgettable." It has also been performed by students at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.
His one-man show, titled Hello Dali, based on artist Salvador Dalí won a Fringe First award and has previously starred Sylvester McCoy and Neil Cunningham. It has been performed in many countries including: Scotland, England, United States, Belgium, Spain, France, and the Netherlands. The play was described as a "scatological, emotional and artistic biography".
In 1986, Dallmeyer wrote The Grand Edinburgh Fire Balloon as a piece of commissioned work for the Royal Lyceum Theatre. Based on the story of the first man to fly in Britain; James Tytler was a pioneer with the development of the hot air balloon. Despite the Lyceum being praised for commissioning a new play with regional importance the play itself received some poor feedback. The Times reporter Sarah Hemmings viewed the play to be "rather monotonous" and "static", though she also said that the "Scenes that do take off are fascinating." John Peter of the Sunday Times reported that the acting was below standard.
