THE show must go on — that is the message from the founder of a groundbreaking Oxford theatre company who has announced his departure.

David Parrish set up the Creation Theatre Company 16 years ago and over that time thousands of people have flocked to see innovative performances at a range of outdoor venues and other unusual locations around the city.

Now he has revealed he is leaving his position as artistic director at the company to start a new life in Oslo with Norwegian wife Ida and children Sunniva, five, and nine-month-old Lucia.

Mr Parrish, 43, said: “We have been scratching our heads for a long time about moving nearer family in Norway and this is the right time to do it in terms of Sunniva starting school.

“There are 10,000 English speaking people in Oslo, so I might set up a Norwegian branch of Creation!”

His favourite memories of his time at Creation include the productions of A Midsummer Night’s Dream as well as building the most prolific theatre company in the county.

Mr Parrish started as a graduate trainee at Barclays Bank while also performing in amateur theatre productions in his spare time.

He took the radical decision to turn his back on banking and concentrate on his love of drama by building a theatre company. Audience figures rocketed from 3,500 in 1996 to more than 50,000 in 2006 with performances in venues such as Headington Hill Park, the Cowley Mini plant and more recently at Oxford Castle. But in the floods of 2007, productions of Hamlet, The Taming of the Shrew and The Oxford Passion — which between them had cost a total of £350,000 to stage — were badly hit and the poor summer of 2008 theatened the company’s future.

It had no funding from local authorities or the Arts Council and only an £80,000 donation from a benefactor saved it after it became a charity.

But the last two years have seen it become financially viable again with the current show, Rapunzel or the Magic Pig at the Cowley Mini plant, attracting positive reviews as well as thousands of people.

Now the process of finding an “inspirational replacement” for Mr Parrish has started, although he will not make his final bow until later next year.

He added: “For the first nine months after moving, I will still be involved with Creation as planning for productions is stretched over a year to 18 months.

“After that, if anyone wants to give me a job in theatre or the artistic world, I will be delighted to talk to them!”

Jeanne Wesson, chairman of Creation, said: “Despite receiving no core arts funding David has achieved the most amazing things with Creation.

“It has had to battle dreadful floods in 2007 and awful weather in 2008, yet despite all this, plus an economic recession, Creation has had a very successful last 18 months and we all face the future with great confidence and anticipation of an exciting future for the company.”