Abdallah's theatrical career was shaped by his membership in the Legon 7 at the University of Ghana School of Music and Drama. AHe went on to found the Legon Road Theatre, providing a platform for experimental performance in a cultural landscape then dominated by
Shakespearean productions. He later established Abibigromma, initially a resident troupe of the University of Ghana and subsequently relocated to the
National Theatre in Accra, which was constructed in the 1980s in part through his initiative. Abdallah was regarded as one of the leading dramatists of his country and generation, and was described as "a maestro in theatre arts and cultural renaissance." His work, unlike that of earlier Ghanaian dramatists, has been described as transcending ethnic and national boundaries to dramatize the wider histories of Ghana and Africa. He challenged the omission of the
transatlantic slave trade from Ghanaian curricula, which emphasized the power of West African empires such as
Asante,
Mande, Yoruba, and
Dahomey, while minimizing their role in the trade. Abdallah also promoted the development of an "authentic African theatre," conceived as a
pan-African aesthetic grounded in indigenous traditions and culture, comparable to the work of Ghanaian dramatists such as
Efua Sutherland,
Asiedu Yirenkyi,
Joe de Graft, and
Ama Ata Aidoo. According to Jesse Weaver Shipley, Abdallah codified "the improvisational aspects of storytelling and popular theatre traditions through spatial ordering, narration techniques, and embedding multiple genres in a performance," thereby creating "theatrical time-space shaped around a storytelling idiom" and reflecting "debates about historical time." which was the first non-American play to win the Randolph Edmunds Award of the National Association for Speech and Dramatic Arts, as well as
The Trial of Malam Ilya and Other Plays,
The Verdict of the Cobra, and
The Alien King (all 1987),
The Fall of Kumbi, and
The Witch of Mopti (all 1989);
Land of a Million Magicians (1993); and
Song of the Pharaoh (2022). He also wrote two children's plays,
Ananse and the Rain God (1989) and
Ananse and the Golden Drum (1994). In
The Slaves and
The Slaves Revisited, he explores the historical connections between Europe, Africa, and the Americas. In the preface to
The Trial of Mallam Ilya and Other Plays, Abdallah wrote that the collection "represents both my development as a playwright in philosophy, technique, and style; and influences that shaped and directed the course of this development." He oversaw construction, established the organisational framework, and secured resident companies (the National Drama Company, National Dance Company, and National Symphony Orchestra). He also served as Head of the School of Performing Arts at the
University of Ghana. Abdallah also worked as a
World Bank consultant to the Gambian government, assisting with capacity-building programmes for the National Council for Arts and Culture. He also held political office under the
Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC), serving as Secretary for Education and Culture in the 1980s and 1990s. == Personal life ==